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Instead, she packed her 12 bags full of 298 pieces of counterfeit clothing items including scarves, hats, shoes and jewelry. The items bore brand names like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Burberry, Prada and Gianni Versace and collectively were appraised at more than $500,000 if authentic, CBP said.
Agents took the items after the woman landed at Washington Dulles International Airport on April 10, CBP said. The Laurel native said, both verbally and in writing, that she only come home with six pieces of luggage from her trip to Thailand.
However, when her bags were searched, agents uncovered and detained the items. CBP import specialists later confirmed the items as counterfeit and appraised the haul at a $509,431 retail price.
The shipment was seized on May 24 and the woman's name has yet to be released because she has not bee criminally charged, CBP said.
Earlier this month, officers seized more than $2 million worth of fake designer clothes at Port of Virginia and last year they seized more than $1 million in counterfeit items from two women who arrived from Qatar. Still, the agency says they rarely see seizures this big.
“The international trade in counterfeit consumer goods is illegal," said Daniel Escobedo, CBP’s Area Port Director for the Area Port of Washington, D.C. "It steals revenues from trademark holders, steals tax revenues from the government, funds transnational criminal organizations, and the unregulated products potentially threaten the health and safety of American consumers.”
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