Investigators seize document haul of 58,000 pretend World Cup kits value £5.5m

British investigators made a record seizure of 58,000 counterfeit World Cup football shirts worth £5.5m during the tournament.

Undercover officers raided a distribution warehouse supplying the Chinese-made kits to multiple online sales websites across the UK. Around 60% of the nine-tonne haul were England shirts and 20% Scotland. Lesser quantities of France, Spain and Portugal shirts were also seized in the raid in Edinburgh.

It was the biggest single haul of counterfeit kits on record and comes after a Daily Star investigation into the illicit trade. Officials said the bogus gear was all designed to be flogged during the World Cup.

Trading Standards chiefs said it was ‘estimated to be one of the largest ever seizures of its kind in the UK weighing in at over nine tonnes and worth over £5m’

Unlike real shirts the counterfeits ‘bypass safety regulations, are often of poor quality, and could potentially expose buyers to harmful toxins in dyes and materials’, they said.

“Fake shirts, along with other counterfeit goods, also have strong links to the funding of organised crime.”

The swoop followed a series of intelligence-led operations by officers from Police Scotland and the National Trading Standards Intellectual Property team in Wales.

A test purchase was made to confirm the products were fake.

Investigators who raided the warehouse found dodgy shirts in individually wrapped grey plastic packages marked with the team name and player – such as ‘England, Kit, Kane’.

Staff at the centre claimed they knew nothing about the fake products they were handling. Sources said it was a ‘hugely organised and sophisticated operation’.

The vast haul of confiscated shirts will all be ‘securely recycled’. Investigations into the source and supply routes continue.

Neil Ross, Edinburgh City Council’s regulatory convener, said it was a ‘tremendous result’.

“With the World Cup well underway this is a timely reminder that criminals exploit major sporting events by flooding the market with counterfeit goods to cash in on fan demand,” he said.

“Let me be clear – this is not a victimless crime.

“Counterfeiters undermine legitimate businesses, rip off supporters and sell products with no guarantee for how or where they were made or whether they meet basic safety standards.

“The investigations into the supply routes involved in this discovery continue but we know that this is part of an international trade in counterfeit goods and represents a significant dent to their illegitimate trade.”

Christopher Bell, chair of the Society of Chief Trading Standards Officers in Scotland, said: “This is a great result.

“The scale of such a seizure shows the challenge faced by Trading Standards teams throughout the country.

“Officers help to protect legitimate trade and intercept illicit goods, which are often linked to organised crime.”