Counterfeit Syndicate Smashed

A syndicate has been getting away with selling counterfeit computer parts and ink cartridges to government offices across Malaysia for the last eight years.

However that has all ended, following three raids this week in Kuala Terengganu also known as K.T.—the administrative and royal capital district of Terengganu, Malaysia.

The value of the seized fake products was over RM600,000 (US$154,000), including more than 2,000 phony computer units of different brands, along with an ink and cartridge-processing machine.

Azlan Abdul Samad, the director of Domestic Trade, Co-operatives and Consumerism in Terengganu, said that a worker and two owners of the company were held in custody following the raids conducted in three places in Jalan Bukit Kecil, Kampung Pulai Baru and Jalan Sultan Zainal Abidin.

Azlan also revealed the syndicate had been running since 2008, and would buy quantities of empty cartridges, fill them and then paste fake brand labels on them. The counterfeit cartridges and other computer parts were sold to shops and government agencies nationwide.

He stated in a press conference yesterday, “We took action after receiving numerous complaints from the original product distributors. We have been monitoring their activities for almost a month before raiding the three premises. From its business records, we noticed that a majority of its clients were government offices.”