Giba Bergamin Jr., O Globo

SAO PAULO. Thirty police officers accompanied by six bailiffs and ten lawyers made a blitz at the Galeria Pagé building, in downtown São Paulo, which resulted in the seizure of 6,7 counterfeit goods yesterday morning. Sneakers, T-shirts and fake glasses from Nike and Mizuno, as well as imitations of Louis Vuitton bags, filled two trucks used in the operation. Nobody was arrested.

The blitz was motivated by a decision by the 1st Civil Court of São Paulo, which determined the operation to search and seize the goods. Police officers traveled the six floors of the gallery, a well-known point of sale for smuggling and pirated goods, to allow bailiffs to make the apprehensions.

No shopkeeper offered resistance. Domingos dos Santos, manager of a sixth-floor store, said that the fake sneakers are sold by Chinese immigrants, to whom store owners often sublet their stores, charging rents of a thousand reais.

? We give up the space and explain to them that they cannot sell fake products. But they don't obey. Can't we do anything else? declared Santos.

According to the lawyer for Nike do Brasil and Alpargatas (which manufactures Mizuno brand products), Newton Vieira Júnior, 70% of counterfeit sneakers are produced in Nova Serrano (MG). The other 30% is brought from China, as well as 100% of the fake bags.

According to Vieira Júnior, the city of Minas Gerais is the largest distributor of counterfeit products in Brazil. The lawyer explained that imitations are easily identified.

? Are they rude? said.

According to Gumercindo Moraes Neto, director of the Mizuno brand in Brazil, the company has been promoting actions frequently to try to stop counterfeiting. The seized products will be available to the courts and offenders must respond to lawsuits.

According to lawyer Vieira Júnior, the company filed a series of damages actions against the counterfeiters. They ask for R $ 400 from each accused. Last week, the Civil Police of Aparecida do Norte, in the interior of São Paulo, seized XNUMX pairs of fake sneakers in a warehouse in two houses in the city.

(*) Special for O GLOBO