Mexico raids stores selling counterfeit or contraband Asian goods, pledges a nationwide crackdown
Mexican authorities have raided a massive complex of stores selling counterfeit Chinese goods in downtown Mexico City, and vowed the crackdown will be carried out nationwide
MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities raided a massive complex of stores selling counterfeit Chinese and other Asian goods in downtown Mexico City, and vowed Friday to take the crackdown nationwide.
Over 200 police, marines and inspectors raided a building known as “Mexico Mart” in the city’s colonial center Thursday and seized around 90,000 counterfeit products that masqueraded as name-brand goods. They seized a total of over 262,000 products that had no receipts, import documents or, in some cases, even labels.
It is not clear if the counterfeits — which included imitations of Marvel, Sanrío, Disney and Nintendo products — were part of the 262,000 product count, or were counted separately. Officials said it took seven hours to seize all the merchandise.
The entire facade of the building is labelled in Chinese characters, as are most of the stores inside. Authorities said the goods were from China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Vietnam.
The timing of the raid was noteworthy, given that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to impose 25% import duties on Mexican products, and some U.S. politicians have worried that Mexico was serving as a conduit for Chinese goods to flood the American market.
There was no evidence that any of the goods were intended for re-export to the United States; they appeared destined for Mexican street vendors who flood the downtown area around Christmas.
But it was also clear that authorities had known for a long time what went on in the complex, which resembles a shopping center for wholesalers or bulk
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