A clandestine factory churning out up to 4 million counterfeit bottles annually has been dismantled by Catalan police, Spanish authorities said on Tuesday, February 17.
Seven people were arrested and 11 others placed under investigation on suspicion of belonging to a criminal organization, smuggling, and infringing industrial property rights. The network allegedly counterfeited perfumes from more than 50 brands.
Although the operation was uncovered in October, the arrests and searches were carried out on February 8 as part of a large-scale operation involving Spanish and French customs authorities and the Mossos d’Esquadra (Catalan police), according to a press release.
Authorities seized over 1.2 million counterfeit products from three warehouses near Girona, just south of the French border. Based on the retail price of authentic goods, their estimated value exceeds EUR 94 million.
Seven production lines
The factory — described as “the largest counterfeit perfume factory uncovered in Europe to date” — had seven production lines, as well as enough raw materials to produce 150,000 litres of various fragrances.
The network was highly organized, overseeing every stage of production — from storage and labelling to packaging — and was equipped with all the necessary machinery, including printing plates for the outer boxes.
Officers seized more than 850,000 counterfeit perfumes at one warehouse and a further 350,000 at another site. They also confiscated the full range of production equipment, including bottles, caps, spray pumps and packaging materials.
The alert came from French customs, which, after intercepting several thousand counterfeit bottles in boxes labeled “very fragile,” notified their Spanish counterparts. Subsequent surveillance uncovered a trafficking network shipping the goods to France and other European countries using trucks and vans registered in Romania and elsewhere.
