Police raid fake eBay dealers

German police launched a series of raids on eBay dealers suspected of selling fake luxury products worth about 2.3 million euros, the weekly Der Spiegel reported Monday.

Police investigators and prosecutors searched 14 offices and apartments between Wednesday and Friday in eight cities across Germany.

Led by a special police unit from the east German city of Magdeburg, the investigators, including tax and customs officials, seized documents and bank accounts as well as computers.

Code-named “JOOP!”, the police unit has been investigating for several months a criminal network it claimed has been manufacturing fake jewellery and leather goods and selling them through internet auctions conducted by Ebay as products made by the luxury German group “JOOP!”.

Police believe that since 2003, about 76,000 “JOOP!” imitations have been auctioned over Ebay. The resulting loss to the Hamburg-based “JOOP!” group is estimated at about 5.5 million euros.

Police believe they have traced the instigators of the pirated products to the Turkish city of Istanbul.

Packages of fake “JOOP!” products have been sent from Istanbul to Germany, Spiegel reported. (dpa)