Gardaí have seized cash and counterfeit luxury items as part of an operation in Dublin targeting intellectual property crime.
Homes in the Dublin 1 and 13 areas were searched as part of the inquiry and officers found some €25,710 in cash and a range of goods.
The items seized included 180 suspected counterfeit Apple AirPod Max headphones, with an estimated loss of revenue of more than €104,000, and 185 suspected counterfeit Otterbox mobile phone cases.
Goods with labels such as Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Balenciaga and Hermes, with an estimated value of €6,000, were also found.
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Friday’s operation involved the Dublin Metropolitan Region Intellectual Property and Counterfeit Investigations Unit and the Dublin Crime Response Team, assisted by the National Criminal Bureau of Criminal Investigation, said the force.
No arrests have been made at this stage and investigations into the seizures are ongoing, it added.
“Large-scale intellectual property theft and the associated money laundering offences are controlled by well-structured criminal networks who risk the safety of the public by selling poor quality counterfeit products, often attempting to pass them off as genuine,” said Assistant Commissioner Paul Cleary, Dublin Metropolitan Region.
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