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| INTERPOL Headquarters By Massimiliano Mariani (via Wikipedia) |
Through
Operation Opson III INTERPOL and EUROPOL have once again become the scourge of
the organized crime networks behind counterfeiting at the transnational level.
Within the
framework of the operation, reported by EUROPOL on 13 February 2014, thousands
of tonnes of foodstuffs and hundreds of thousands of litres of drinks, all
counterfeit or unregulated and potentially harmful, were seized. The actions
extended to 33 countries throughout Europe, America and Asia and were carried
out with the aid of national police forces, private sector organizations and
customs authorities. The operation was the third in a series launched by
INTERPOL and EUROPOL in 2011 under the codename “Opson” (meaning “food” in ancient Greek) which is aimed
at combating illicit trade in counterfeit foodstuffs at the transnational level
and has so far resulted in the arrest of over three hundred people and the
seizure of vast amounts of goods to the value of hundreds of millions of
dollars. This series of blows to the organized crime networks bears witness to
the extraordinary organizational and operational capacity of INTERPOL and
EUROPOL and to the commendable coordination of the police forces of the
different countries.
The work
performed by INTERPOL in the intellectual property field is particularly
noteworthy. In 2012 it set up a programme against trafficking in illicit goods
and counterfeiting with a view to improving transnational cooperation in this
area between the security forces of the member States. INTERPOL rates offences
against intellectual property to be highly damaging to the whole of global
society and highlights the increasingly preponderant role of international
mafias, to which this Blog in turn referred in a previous post.
Although the
figures on the growth in worldwide traffic in counterfeit goods are dismaying,
the increased effectiveness of operations undertaken against it by these
Community and international police forces are to be highlighted. In 2012
INTERPOL launched Operation Maya in various Central and South American
countries, where over 1,000 police interventions took place and 200 arrests
were made, and Operation Black Poseidon in Eastern Europe entailing over 1,700
interventions and the seizure of goods to the value of 122 million euros. EUROPOL,
for its part, conducted Operation Leatherface, which resulted in the
dismantling in various provinces of Spain of a
transnational network connected with the Camorra and engaging in illicit
trade in counterfeit goods. In Operation Pangea INTERPOL and EUROPOL worked
together, with the assistance of other public and private sector bodies, to
dismantle a network involved in the online sale of counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
In the course of that operation 58 people were arrested and 9.8 million items
of goods, which would have had a market value of 41 million dollars, were
seized.
The third
phase of Operation Opson, which exemplifies the spirit of cooperation and
capacity for coordination of INTERPOL and EUROPOL, is still ongoing. Thanks to
this work consumers and trademark owners are safer, while international
criminals are more uneasy.
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| By Eyehook (via Wikimedia) |
In Spain
ELZABURU is involved, within the framework of Operation Opson III, in the
pursuit of a criminal organization engaging in the production and distribution
of counterfeit French champagne originating in Italy. EUROPOL is working on the
investigation.
