Hong Kong Customs Seizes Suspected Counterfeit Rice
22 May 2014
Acting on allegations about the selling of suspected counterfeit rice, the Hong Kong Customs conducted an operation on May 5 at a store house in Fung Kat Heung, Yuen Long. A total of five persons were arrested and over 130 kilogrammes of suspected counterfeit rice with a value of about HK$2,000 (US$258) were seized. An investigation is in progress.
Acting on information about the selling of suspected counterfeit rice with free delivery services at a low price as tactics, officers of the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau carried out investigations and raided a store house in Fung Kat Heung, Yuen Long. Four men and a woman, aged between 26 and 55, including a person-in-charge of the store house and four workers, were arrested. The arrested persons were put on bail pending investigation.
Upon investigation, it was believed that unscrupulous traders used rice bags with forged trademarks to repack genuine rice mixed with rice of inferior quality for supplying to local food premises and also for sale to public housing tenants with an intention to make bigger profits at lower costs.
The Head of Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau of the Customs, Lee Hon-wah, today appealed to the public not to buy goods from mobile peddlers for their own benefit. He also urged members of the public to report to the Customs promptly should there be any suspicious activities.
Under the Trade Descriptions Ordinance, any person selling, or in possession for the purpose of selling, goods bearing a forged trademark commits a criminal offence. The maximum penalty is imprisonment for five years and a fine of HK$500,000 (US$64,500).
