HP lauds INAE for raids against counterfeit goods – Mozambique

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HP lauds INAE for raids against counterfeit goods – Mozambique

7:05 CAT | 27 Mar 2018

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The international technology company Hewlett Packard (HP) has praised Mozambique’s National Inspectorate of Economic Activities (INAE) for carrying out raids on counterfeit suppliers.

According to an HP press release, in December local officials seized 64,000 illicit items from various warehouses and shops in Maputo, leading to the dismantling of a major print supplies counterfeiter. The seized goods included counterfeit toner cartridges, as well as the components needed to assemble fake print supplies. The counterfeiter had been supplying fake cartridges in bulk to six retail outlets.

In its release, HP warned that “counterfeiting is a crime. For users, such illegal imitations can cause a multitude of problems that can cause performance and reliability issues”.

Jean Paul Pinto, Print Business Group Manager in HP Africa, commented “HP commends the cooperation and swift action of Mozambican officials and their determination to apprehend and prosecute counterfeiters who break the law. We are proud that our collaboration is working to reduce counterfeiting operations in the region”.

In a raid in 5 December, INAE targeted a chain of warehouses in downtown Maputo, where the inspectors seized 300 boxes of counterfeit toner, used in photocopiers or printers.

The fake toner was imported from China, and was then packaged into boxes stamped with labels to make it look as if it was a genuine HP product.

The INAE inspectors found a variety of other counterfeit goods in the warehouses, including detergents, batteries, clothing, footwear and electrical goods.

A few days later, the INAE General Inspector, Rita Freitas, showed reporters a range of the counterfeit goods seized. There were HP toner cartridges, Nike footwear, Adidas and Ralph Lauren shirts, Caroline Herrera and Tom Ford perfumes and much else – all of it fake, all of it worthless.

Freitas confirmed that the bulk of the counterfeit goods come from China. There was plenty of the South African MAQ brand of washing powder. The packaging bore the words “made in South Africa”, but INAE knew that it had all come from China.

INAE displays seized counterfeit goods
INAE seizes counterfeit products in Maputo warehouses

Source: AIM