Editorial office
A dozen Civil Guard agents belonging to the Territorial Fiscal Patrols of Vecindario and Guía, together with the Investigation Teams of the Civil Guard of Vecindario, Argüineguín, Agüimes and Arucas, have carried out an extensive operation in the vicinity of the Vecindario Fairgrounds, on the occasion of the Flea Market that was recently held in said place.
After inspecting numerous street vendor stalls, a large quantity of counterfeit industrial products (textiles, watches and leather goods) were discovered on display for sale to the public, with prices equal to the originals, being exact replicas with designs registered by prestigious commercial firms of considerable commercial value (Armani, Versache, Cristian Dior, Gucci, Levis, Calvin Klein, Chanel, Pucca, Lee, Reebok, Ray Ban, Rolex, Lotus, Cartier, Ferrari, etcetera).
The Civil Guard reports that a total of 1,133 articles were seized, among which are 405 sunglasses, 250 belts, 136 women's bags of different types and sizes, 128 caps, 71 wallets and purses, 51 dolls, 46 watches, 25 mobile phone cases and 21 card games, effects that once sold to the public would have provided an economic benefit of 157,785 euros, according to the value calculated by a tax expert attached to the Anti-Piracy Commission of the Ministry of Culture who collaborated in these actions.
The owners of these products, 10 street vendors, 9 of them men (6 from Senegal, 2 from Morocco and 1 from Mauritania) together with a woman from Cape Verde, all between the ages of 28 and 60, were arrested accused of Crimes Against Industrial and Intellectual Property.
Second operation
Simultaneously, on the same day, another group of Civil Guard agents belonging to the Fiscal Patrol and the Vecindario Investigation Team carried out a series of inspections in several Ciber-Café type premises in the same town, resulting in the seizure of various computer and electronic equipment in three of these establishments.
The agents seized 3 complete computers that stored on their hard drives some 3,000 illegal copies of musical songs downloaded from the internet, along with 65 pirated compact discs (CD's with games, movies and music) and another 70 discs with computer programs. All this material has been seized and valued at 57,000 euros according to the official appraisal.
For these events, the three managers of these premises were arrested, the woman C.P.G. 38 years old and the men J.P.M. 31 years old and A.C.S. 32 years old, residents of Vecindario and accused of Crimes Against Industrial and Intellectual Property.
