Source: REUTERS/MOLLY DARLINGTON
[Saba Sports News] At the annual Football
Anti-Counterfeiting Conference, the Premier League awarded the Greater
Manchester Police with the Law Enforcement Agency of the Year Award in acknowledgment
of their significant efforts in combating the counterfeiting of football
shirts. In June of this year, the Greater Manchester Police conducted a raid
called Operation Vulcan, during which they seized 70 tonnes of counterfeit
goods. Over the past 11 months, they have confiscated more than 1,000 tonnes of
counterfeit products, including 30,000 fake football shirts. These counterfeit
goods were intended for sale on the streets of Manchester and beyond, causing
significant economic losses to the British industry amounting to billions of
pounds. Since the inception of the Premier League’s anti-counterfeiting program
in 2007, a total of 2.7 million counterfeit products with a value of up to £58
million have been recovered.