South African customs authorities on Wednesday confiscated five million rand (685,000 dollars, 500,000 euros) worth of counterfeit football apparel related to the FIFA World Cup, a spokesman said.
Piles of apparently fake national jerseys for England, Brazil, France, Portugal and South Africa were found at a warehouse in the port city of Durban, where they had been smuggled into the country, the customs department said.
“The owners of the store failed to provide customs bills of entries or any documentation relating to the goods, resulting in customs officials detaining the goods,” said customs spokesman Sibabalwenathi Mfabe.
“The goods which are suspected to be counterfeit have been moved to a state warehouse, until further investigation in the case has been conducted,” he said.
Authorities do not know where the goods originated, but Mfabe said lawyers representing the brands were expected to prosecute the owner of the warehouse.
Counterfeit jerseys for teams participating in the World Cup are increasingly sold by street vendors at discounted prices, ahead of the June 11 to July 11 tournament in South Africa.
