South African Revenue Services (SARS) customs officials operating at Durban harbour detained a container with 33 000 suspected counterfeit South African football jerseys on Friday, 28 May 2010. The consignment of jerseys is valued at just under R20 million and is based on the price appearing on the tag accompanying each jersey.
The consignment of suspected counterfeit jerseys has been detained for mis-declaration as they were declared as pots. The container, which had been profiled and examined by SARS customs officials, had one row of pots with the rest of the container filled with the suspected counterfeit jerseys. Tests to confirm their status of the goods will also be carried out by the lawyers representing Adidas.
The interventions form part of SARS guarantees to FIFA to ensure the safe delivery of the World Cup through the protection of economic interests of intellectual property rights holders. These measures also benefit the local clothing and textile industry which is hampered by such illegal activities.
SARS continues to encourage members of the public to be alert of suspicious business activities and report such instances to our toll free Fraud and Anti Corruption Hotline on 0800 00 28 70.
Issued by: South African Revenue Services
2 June 2010
Source: South African Revenue Services (http://www.sars.gov.za)
