Excellent Court Result After Biggest UK Counterfeit Clothing Haul
Surelock is proud to have assisted Birmingham City Council Trading Standards on this operation on behalf of our clients. It was the largest seizure of counterfeit clothing ever in the United Kingdom. The press release from Birmingham trading Standards is reproduced below:
Birmingham Trading Standards has secured its biggest ever Proceeds of Crime Act award after a company boss, who was convicted of selling counterfeit clothing on an industrial scale, was ordered to repay almost £5.5 million
Banti Sohal, aged 41, formerly of Bernard Road, Edgbaston, was jailed for three-and-a-half years in April last year after admitting 17 charges under the Trades Mark Act.
He was charged after city council trading standards officers made their biggest ever haul of counterfeit clothing in the West Midlands. Surelock assisted in this investigation together with other trade mark representatives.
They raided a warehouse in Smethwick in November 2008 where they discovered around 100,000 items of fake Nike, Timberland, Fred Perry, Drunknmunky, Ecko Rhino, Sean John and Henri Lloyd clothing.
Had the clothing been genuine it would have been worth up to £9 million but the estimated street value was £6 million.
NR Sohal and Sons’ registered premises was a shop in City Road, Edgbaston, but just a short distance away it had a huge warehouse in Heath Street, Smethwick, where the counterfeit clothing, imported from China, was stored.
The £5,380,000 confiscation order was made at Birmingham Crown Court on Friday, March 18 2011.