The Panamanian authorities reported on Wednesday, May 17, that they seized more than 326,000 counterfeit brand products, including some popular ones, such as Nike and Louis Vuitton, worth 4 million dollars, being “the largest seizure” for the “crime against industrial property rights.”

This is the largest industrial property case we have ever had, there is no reference to an investigation where the volume of this merchandise has been found, with counterfeit trademarks,” the prosecutor specialized in Crimes against Intellectual Property, Ricaurte González, told EFE. 

Under the operation “Maverick”, the Panama Police found “shoes, flip-flops, clothing, covers, batteries, charger investigations, according to the Public Ministry. 

The authorities have arrested a person, who will be brought before a guarantee judge, who was the “supplier or supplier” of “markets” or “small shopping centers” to resell those products, according to the prosecutor. 

And he added that now the Prosecutor’s Office must “unravel how (the counterfeit merchandise) reaches the national territory

Panama has a peculiarity in its legislation. We, precisely, because we are a passing country, have the power to retain merchandise that is in transit,” González added.

These months of research, we could see some people who were dedicated to subsidizing these items, but they were of a smaller amount. What was sought with this operation was to reach the distribution house,” the commissioner of the National Directorate of Judicial Investigation of the Police, Sergio Delgado, told EFE.