8,000 counterfeit sports jackets seized in Nogales

The Tucson Citizen
Tuesday, November 8, 2005
CLAUDINE LoMONACO
lomonaco@tucsoncitizen.com

Eight thousand fewer counterfeit Duke Blue Devils, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees jackets will be making their way to Mexican markets after federal agents stopped a truck at the Nogales Port of Entry.

Early last week, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents found the jackets, as well as fake jackets for other teams, in a Mexico-bound truck. The jackets were manufactured in Korea, shipped through Long Beach, Calif., and trucked into Nogales.

Agents were tipped off about the jackets' cheap quality, said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman Brian Levin. It was the first time in years agents had found such a large quantity of counterfeit goods headed to Mexico, he said.

In the United States, the authentic jackets go for between $80 to $150, but counterfeit ones sell for a fraction of that in Mexico.

Counterfeit goods sold in the United States cost sports teams around $60 million a year in lost revenues, said Cortney Martin of the Coalition to Advance the Protection of Sports Logos.