City of London police have arrested eight suspects and seized £100,000 worth of fake Euro 2024 kits in raids against a counterfeiting ring.
England kits and training gear are being sold by criminal gangs at lower prices than official merchandise.
Those arrested have been questioned over alleged offences relating to the sale and distribution of counterfeit goods.
Five people were arrested during raids at a shop and five residential addresses in Camden, north London. Around 6,000 counterfeit items, including £9,600 worth of Euro 2024 shirts, were seized.
Raids at a shop and residential address in Haslemere, Surrey, resulted in shirts worth £50,000 being seized. The crackdown comes as England prepare to face the Netherlands in the Euro semi final on Wednesday.
All eight people arrested have been released under investigation.
Detective Chief Inspector Emma Warbey, from the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) at the City of London Police, said: “Few events match the UEFA Euro tournaments when it comes to pulling in a global audience.
“The popularity of the event means that there is a significant demand for merchandise, with fans buying these products to demonstrate support for their country. Sadly, the increased demand for merchandise also leaves consumers and brands open to the risk of counterfeiting.
“Counterfeiting is a lucrative business, with criminals relying on the demand for cheap goods, alongside low production and distribution costs, to fund other illegal ventures.
“We’re sending a clear message that the links between counterfeiting and other crime, alongside the low quality of counterfeit products, can never amount to a good deal.”
In a further inciden,t clothing worth £13,700 was also seized from a storage unit in Enfield, north London, during a warrant executed in connection to the sale of counterfeit football shirts on Facebook Marketplace.
A man was arrested and received a caution, a condition of which was to take down the Facebook Marketplace seller profile.
Marcus Evans, Deputy Director of Intelligence and Law Enforcement at the Intellectual Property Office (IPO), said: “As fans show their support for their favourite teams at Euro 2024, criminal networks continue to exploit their loyalty by targeting the market with counterfeit kits.
“The production and sale of these is anything but a victimless crime. It does nothing to support the game of football, but instead supports the lifestyles of the criminals involved – diverting funds away from the sport into the hands of serious and organised crime gangs.
“The trade in counterfeits has been estimated to cost over 80,000 jobs in the UK each year, and is strongly linked to other forms of serious crime – including the trade in illegal drugs, people smuggling and modern slavery.”
