Tucson Region

8,000 sports-logo jackets seized as fakes at Nogales

In the first significant counterfeit merchandise seizure in at least three years, 8,000 jackets with sports organizations' logos were seized at the Mariposa Port of Entry in Nogales, Ariz., on Wednesday, said a Customs and Border Protection spokesman. It took 22 customs inspectors four hours to sort through nearly 8,000 counterfeit sport jackets bearing the logos of the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, Dallas Cowboys, North Carolina Tar Heels, Michigan Wolverines, Georgia Bulldogs and Duke Blue Devils, spokesman Brian Levin said. The jackets were in a semi-truck heading south through the Mariposa port, Levin said. He said the load of fake goods came from South Korea and landed in San Diego; then it was driven to Arizona for entry into Mexico. The load of jackets carried a street price of $600,000, Levin said. "Other than a counterfeit watch now and again, it's the first significant copyright or trademark violation in at least three years," Levin said. Suspicions were aroused when customs inspectors checking the jackets noticed abnormalities in the way the jackets were made, Levin said. "A lot of it has to do with the logo itself, whether it looks right or whether the holograms on the tags are evident," Levin said. Customs contacted the Coalition to Advance the Protection of Sports Logos, which stated that the jackets were not authorized and the manufacturer was using counterfeit markings and labels. The driver was not arrested, Levin said.