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Atlanta Police Raid West End Market, Confiscate $5M in Fake Luxury Goods

Posted byBy ABS Contributor | Published on: | Updated on March 4, 2013 CommentsComments (0)

Friday night at the West End Market on Ralph David Abernathy everything must go!

At least everything in the big black evidence bags carried out by the Atlanta Police crime suppression unit.

Investigators say half a dozen stores here were conducting big business selling fake goods worth upwards of a million dollars.

“We have found everything in here from tennis shoes and blue jeans, all of the designer purses, as well as all of the lines of designer clothes” said APD Capt.Stacie Gibbs. “Nikes, Air Jordans, all of the items have been counterfeited.”

It was the residents of the West End who complained to police that they were fed up with all the counterfeiters in their neighborhood. That’s when APD sent in undercover agents, who hit the jackpot on high-dollar knockoffs.

“Here’s 13 Coach (bags); and I think they did those at three or four hundred dollars,” counted Gibbs, as she looked through the bags. “Every pair of Nike shoes, they’re just estimating at a hundred dollars.”

Gibbs says the real estimate would likely be triple that. A Louis Vuitton like the one a police officer carried out of the flea market would cost $10,000 if it were authentic. As a fake, it’s about $30. That’s why resellers grab the fakes by the armload.

Read more: 11Alive

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