KUALA LUMPUR: A racket selling fake World Cup football jerseys to foreign tourists at inflated prices was uncovered following a raid by the Kuala Lumpur Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Ministry.
The vendors at Jalan Petaling were targeting unsuspecting visitors, with some allegedly paying more than double the price charged to locals.
Its enforcement chief, Mohd Shahran Mohd Arshad, said the operation, which began around 6pm on Friday, targeted five premises – a storage facility and four retail stalls.
He said 5,403 suspected counterfeit football jerseys worth an estimated RM270,150 were seized.
Six foreign workers, including a woman, aged between 20 and 30, were detained during the operation, with the suspects identified as Bangladeshi and Myanmar nationals, he said.
“Initial investigations indicate they were employed by locals to work at the premises,” he told reporters after the raid.
Mohd Shahran said interviews with foreign tourists revealed that the jerseys were being sold at unreasonably high prices.
He said locals were typically charged about RM50 for one piece while tourists were asked to pay more than RM100 for the same item.
Inspections also found that the stalls were selling imitation jerseys of various qualities while the storage facility housed specialised machines used to print players’ names and jersey numbers.
He said the syndicates were believed to have sold up to 100 jerseys daily during the World Cup season, generating as much as RM5,000 in daily revenue.
Initial investigations found that the premises were linked to different syndicates, with authorities now tracking down the owners of the businesses, including those responsible for renting out the premises.
Mohd Shahran urged members of the public, especially visitors to Jalan Petaling, to report any sale of counterfeit goods to the ministry.
The case is being investigated under the Trademarks Act.
