[Anchor]

A group of people who smuggled more than 50,000 boxes of counterfeit luxury goods into the country by hiding them inside cargo that is being shipped overseas via Korea has been arrested.

[Reporter Kim Hyun-ji reports.]

The report, friends.

The police are coming to a secret warehouse in Incheon.

When I pulled the packed box out of the van and opened it, I found luxury brand clothing and bags.

Counterfeit luxury goods smuggled in from China.

These counterfeit luxury goods entered the country under the guise of transshipment cargo.

It was aimed at the fact that transshipment cargo that only goes through Korea does not have to go through domestic customs clearance.

The arrested people smuggled counterfeit goods into Incheon Port as if they were transshipment cargoes on container cargo ships, and then sneaked counterfeit goods out of Incheon International Airport Free Trade Zone where transshipment cargo is classified and transported.

On the outside of the container, we used a so-called "curtain-cutting" technique that puts a normal product, a cell phone battery, and hides counterfeit goods inside.

He is accused of smuggling more than 55,000 counterfeit goods through a total of 260 times from November 2020 to September 2022.

The counterfeit luxury goods imported in this way amounted to 1.5 trillion won worth of genuine products.

The smuggling organization operated in the form of production and smuggling in China, exporting, transporting and selling in Korea.

Incheon Maritime Police Agency handed over 17 people including domestic smuggling officers to the prosecution on charges of violating customs and trademark laws, and asked Interpol to arrange for two people, including the Chinese general who supplied smuggled goods to the country.