Customs officers on Thursday said they have arrested five people on suspicion of selling counterfeit mooncakes, cutlery and lanterns worth some HK$28,000. In an operation ahead of next week's Mid-Autumn Festival, undercover officers were deployed to buy the goods. They ended up arresting two men and three women, aged 21 to 70, who are suspected of running two online shops and three retail outlets in Tuen Mun and Yuen Long. A residential unit in Southern district was also raided, with 26 boxes of suspicious mooncakes and some cutlery seized. Senior intellectual property and technology crime inspector Liu Man-chun said some of the goods were branded as being from a fashion company that is not in the mooncake business. "One of the brands mainly sells leather goods and clothing. According to information from the trademark holder, they don't design or manufacture mooncakes or associated cutlery that we suspect to be counterfeits. These goods sell as a package online for around HK$600 to HK$800," he said at a press briefing. Liu said another suspected counterfeit mooncake product had a spelling mistake on the box. The inspector said officers are concerned about the quality of the goods and they have been sent to the government laboratory for tests. Officers also seized more than 500 lanterns from the three shops that were being sold for between HK$8 and HK$40.
