SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — A sting operation conducted by the Mexican federal government in Ensenada, about 60 miles south of the border, resulted in the confiscation of three million Asian-made items earlier this week.
Mexican officials are calling it a record haul of ‘contraband’ products ranging from perfumes to toys to electronics to cleaning materials.
They say it’s the “biggest strike against pirated items” ever taken.
It’s all part of Operación Limpieza, or Operation Cleaning, recently announced by Mexico’s President Claudia Sheinbaum and Marcelo Ebrard, Secretary of the Economy, to rid the county of fake products.
Baja California’s Governor Marina del Pilar Ávila Olmeda said investigators raided warehouses and retail space in Ensenada totaling about 18 million square meters — or almost 194 million square feet — and confiscated the fake items.
Ávila Olmeda said all the merchandise had been illegally imported into Mexico.
The materials reportedly held an estimated 320 million pesos in value, roughly $16 million.
Investigators tag and remove confiscated Asian items from warehouse in Ensenada, Baja California. (Courtesy: State of Baja California)
Ebrard praised the efforts of federal and Baja California investigators and officers who took part in the operation.
“This is one of the most important operations ever taken on by Mexico, it’s more than 3 million items,” Ebrard said.
He added that almost all had faked brand labels, misleading information and lacked permits, ingredient lists and expiration dates.
And according to Ebrard, the cosmetics were not packaged or sealed right.
The operation is part of Mexico’s campaign to protect Mexican manufacturers in the textile, shoe, toy and other industries.
According to Ebrard, 70,000 jobs have been lost in the Mexican textile industry over the last 18 months as a result of illegal merchandise that comes in from Asia, primarily China.
Similar raids have taken place in other parts of Mexico including Sonora, Coahuila and Mexico City, but according to Ebrard, they’ve never confiscated these many items before.
“It’s interesting that as we conduct these operations closer to the border, the number of items and merchandise seems to go up, these are all illegal and violate many norms including civil protection, licensing, intellectual property, industrial property, and we will not allow it.”
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