News
Manchester’s alleged ‘counterfeit king’ has been arrested after early-morning police raids
The raids formed part of GMP's ongoing 'Operation Vulcan'.
Emily Sergeant -
12th January 2024 
Manchester’s alleged ‘counterfeit king’ has been tracked down and arrested following police raids in the early hours of the morning.
In what was part of the ongoing ‘Operation Vulcan’ – which is Greater Manchester Police‘s (GMP) mission to crackdown on the sale of counterfeit goods, and hit the finances of the gangs operating out of the Cheetham Hill and Strangeways areas of Manchester – police across the region executed a number of warrants and carried out several early-morning raids yesterday (11 January).
Officers from GMP’s Salford Challenger team first executed two warrants in a bid to find and apprehend a suspected counterfeiter, dubbed the ‘counterfeit king’, who was believed to be mass-producing counterfeit gear for different shops all across the UK.
Police uncovered three counterfeit units inside a warehouse on Cobden Street in Salford.
Inside the units, they found rows upon rows of high-value machines, which are used to apply counterfeit logos to unbranded clothes, as well as large volumes of counterfeit clothes that were all boxed-up and ready to go on sale.
A 44-year-old man was eventually arrested by police over in Oldham on suspicion of trademark offences.
And, on what seems like a separate note currently, police also uncovered a pigeon farm above the unit in Salford, but at this time, its connection to the wider counterfeit operation is “yet to be revealed”, GMP has admitted.
“The operation in Cheetham Hill has successfully decimated the physical counterfeit trade,” commented Inspector Dan Cullum, one of Operation Vulcan’s specialist officers, following yesterday’s raids.
“We can now proudly say that we are no longer the ‘counterfeit capital’ of the UK, following months of relentless activity, however, we are acutely aware that a small number of people are still looking to exploit the market and produce counterfeit items from warehouses in the back streets of Cheetham Hill.
Read more:
- Police donate hundreds of seized counterfeit clothes to Manchester charity to ‘combat poverty’
- Parts of Manchester’s infamous ‘counterfeit street’set to be bulldozed by police
- Police seize record-breaking £870m worth of counterfeit goods in latest Cheetham Hill raids
“[Yesterday’s] warrant just demonstrates how important it is that, as a community, we continue to look out for the signs of illegal activity.”
Featured Image – GMP
