The Hyderabad police Monday seized counterfeit products, including Apple iPhone accessories, worth over Rs 1 crore, and arrested four people allegedly involved in the sale of these products.
Based on a tip-off, the Commissioner’s Task Force, Central Zone Team, and personnel from the Abids police station conducted simultaneous raids at shops selling duplicate accessories at Jagdish Market and arrested Vikram Singh, Suresh Kumar Rajpurohit, Natharam Choudhary, and Mohammad Sarfaraz. The four men have shops at Jagdish Market.
During the raid, the police seized 156 EarPods, 16 Apple power banks, 430 Apple logo stickers, 295 pieces of adapters and adapter covers with logos, 61 pieces of USB cables, 45 pieces of batteries, 95 pieces of back glass, and 1,430 pieces of silicone back covers.
The police said the arrested men were selling counterfeit mobile accessories of the Apple brand by printing and affixing the company’s logo and images on the packaging box. Initial investigations suggest that the shop owners sourced these fake accessories from Mumbai through various marketing agents.
The police said the four men were arrested for violating the Copyright Act, and cheating customers through the sale of counterfeit products to earn easy profits illegally. They added that the arrested men knowingly bought counterfeit Apple mobile accessories from marketing agents. They then packaged these duplicate products in genuine-looking Apple packaging to deceive customers into believing they were buying authentic iPhone products.
The arrested men and the seized material were handed over to the Abids police station for further investigation.
© IE Online Media Services Pvt Ltd
