AUTHORITIES in Catalunya have busted Europe’s biggest counterfeit perfume factory with 1.2 million bottles valued at €94 million seized.
Four warehouses were used to produce and store the fake products.
The regional police force- the Mossos d’Esquadra- have arrested seven people with 11 others still under investigation for smuggling, crimes against industrial property, and belonging to a criminal organisation.
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The Mossos are still looking for a couple who they believe were in charge of the enterprise.
The gang produced the counterfeits in a complex in Fogars de la Selva (Girona) that had seven manufacturing and packaging lines using 150,000 litres of products capable of generating four million bottles a year copying over 50 different luxury brands.
They also had two other warehouses, in Arbucies and Sant Feliu de Buixalleu (both in Girona), where they stored the bottles as well as well raw materials like.
The Mossos and Tax Agency operation started in early October when French police seized 2,600 fake perfume bottles at the border.
The bottles led the Mossos to the Fogars de la Selva complex, made up of two interconnected warehouses which they placed under surveillance for several months.
On January 28, the first search was carried out, in which the factory was uncovered and which in turn led authorities to the other two warehouses.
The gang produced and packaged the products in Girona to send them to France and other European countries via lorries and vans.
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