Guardia Civil officers in Barcelona have seized over 30,000 counterfeit products worth around €7 million in an operation codenamed ‘Athenas’.
The counterfeit goods, including sunglasses, bags, jewellery, watches and clothes, arrived at El Prat airport and police have so far managed to identify around eighteen people involved in the trade, mostly intermediaries and street vendors.
Police followed the shipment as it was delivered to intermediaries in Premio de Mar (Barcelona) and Cambrils (Tarragona) and it was there that they intercepted the goods. Most of these intermediaries were from North and Central Africa.
The shipment was originally from Bulgaria, but managed to circumvent European import controls by being routed through Greece.