Chinese police seize more than 200,000 counterfeit hard drives
Police in China have arrested 56 suspects who allegedly produced counterfeit Hewlett Packard and IBM hard drives.
On Saturday, May 11, Chinese news agency Xinhua announced police had busted the counterfeit ring and seized more than 210,000 hard drives.
The arrests were made at two factories and four offices in the cities Nanjing, Beijing, Chongqing and Guangzhou. The hard drives were made and sold as brand-name items in all four cities.
Although the news was only just announced, the arrests were made late last year, according to Reuters.
Nanjing Police said it began the investigation into the fake hard drives after Hewlett Packard filed a complaint. It said it was shocked at the scale of the operation, which had employed “hundreds of people”.
According to the police, the suspects bought cheap, old and discarded hard drives abroad before modifying the data on them, repackaging them and selling them at a 60% profit.
The news comes after Shanghai police last month arrested four suspects who were allegedly part of a counterfeit ring which produced $30 million worth of counterfeit Lego.
As reported by WIPR, police raided factories and closed down three warehouses, including more than ten assembly lines.
The factories were owned and operated by Lepin, a Chinese toy manufacturer.
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