SHARJAH, 28 July 2007 — Hundreds of counterfeit television sets, cosmetics and other fake products have been destroyed in Sharjah, according to a WAM report yesterday. The Sharjah Municipality led the move that involved 313 TV sets, 890 ink cartridge cases of faxes, photo copiers and laser printers, hundreds of boxes of cosmetics, shaving machines and calculators.
The municipality urged shops, commercial centers and warehouses to make sure that the products they sell are original and sourced from original manufacturers.
Authorities had recently seized $2 million (about Dh7.34 million) worth of fake cosmetics from a warehouse here, according to a Gulf News report.
An official of the Economic Department said that an informant gave them the lead on where bootlegged versions of Christian Dior and L’Oreal cosmetics were being kept, prompting them to raid the warehouse.
Faisal Barakat, a partner of Al Sha’ali and Co Advocates and Legal Consultants and head of the Intellectual Properties Department, said the temperature inside the warehouse was above 40 degrees Celsius, hot enough to spoil the products.
He said besides being fake, using these products would likely cause skin irritation and allergies.
An executive at L’Oreal, Paris lauded the authorities for cracking the whip on the counterfeit products trade in the UAE.
Rows of stacked boxes laden with fake cosmetics greeted the authorities who raided a warehouse in Sharjah.
