Recent statistics have revealed that fake designer bags are part of a whopping $500 billion global trade in counterfeit goods. The more shocking revelation is that a part of that money funds terrorism.
Between October 2005 and September 2006 alone, the Department of Homeland Security has seized 14,000 counterfeit goods worth $155 million. The amount is almost the double that of the last year. As a consequence of trading of fakes worth $80 billion, New York alone lost $1 billion of sales tax revenue.
It’s virtually all profit and it isn’t funding anything good. It is a threat to democracy and a threat to the rule of law,
New York Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was quoted saying in a conference on counterfeiting.
Kelly revealed that the group accused of the 2004 Madrid train bombings, which costed 191 people’s life, was funded by proceeds from the sale of fake CD’s. He added that a group, which sells counterfeit goods including fake Viagra support militant group Hezbollah.
Stringent measures against counterfeiting in Asia have pushed fakes into stores. However, markets of Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Beijing are still flourishing with fake Prada, Burberry and Louis Vuitton.
