On the same day it was announced that Manchester’s infamous ‘Counterfeit Street’ is to be bulldozed, police discovered a Cheetham Hill building containing 'hundreds of thousands of pounds worth' of suspected counterfeit items. The haul was uncovered when cops were called to a commercial burglary in Lockett Street, just off Bury New Road, at around 6.30am this morning (Tuesday October 25).
A number of suspects fled as officers arrived, leaving behind a large Mercedes-Benz Sprinter van - which had been half-filled with suspected counterfeit items, believed to have been stolen in the burglary, as well as weapons, including an axe and a machete. Upon entering the building, which is accessed via a back door down an alley, police discovered five units filled with what appears to be fake designer clothes, trainers and jewellery.
The Manchester Evening News were allowed to look around the building before the goods were seized by Greater Manchester Police (GMP). Close to the entrance was a paper sign shaped like an arrow, pointing to the units. On the sign was written ‘very good, very nice’ and ‘have a look in Selfridges’, alongside a list detailing the items that were on offer.
READ MORE : Manchester's Counterfeit Street to be bulldozed as new Chief Constable orders radical action
Above one of the units, ‘best shop’ was scrawled in red marker pen. Inside said shop was a pair of Nike trainers, on which one officer noticed that the classic Swoosh logo was the wrong way round. Other stores had shelves and rails full of knock-off clothing branded as Burberry, Dior and Stone Island. There were also Rolex watches that were believed to be bogus, boxes of ‘designer’ perfume and, bizarrely, a Micky Mouse bath mat.
As police prepared to load the seized goods onto a 7.5 tonne truck, a delivery driver brought a package intended for the building. It contained a Canada Goose jacket that was subsequently seized.
DCI Jen Kelly, of GMP, told the M.E.N : “Police were called here this morning to reports of a burglary in progress. When they’ve arrived, police have found suspects and chased them. They abandoned this white van which was being used to store the goods that were being stolen from the building behind us.
“When police entered the building they found that it was a counterfeit goods property, containing lots of different shops with counterfeit goods in. It’s been subject to a closure order for the last three months and is just about to re-open but clearly they’re intending to continue with the counterfeiting so we need to take some steps to prevent that happening today.”
Earlier today, the M.E.N reported that a number of buildings on Bury New Road are to be closed, compulsory purchased, and then flattened. The move is part of Operation Vulcan, which plans to rid the area of shops selling counterfeit goods - which are also believed to be a front for serious crime. GMP have established that 33 organised crime gangs from across the UK have links to the area. The front of the building in which the goods were found was shuttered, with a notice for a closure order taped to it.
“Today’s activity has come because of concerned members of the public,” Det Supt Neil Blackwood said. “You’ve had an organised crime group preying on another organised crime group to try and steal their commodity. This is worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.
“It’s about getting the message to people that there’s a real shady side to this. The people who are now on the run, because they’ve been trying to access this property using force, will have a real big problem coming to them from the other organised crime group. This is not a simple counterfeit goods shop, this is a whole trade that we need to crack down on with Operation Vulcan.”
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