Fake designer goods sent to help the needy

OVER the last year or more, the sight of squads of police officers – prising open the security shutters as they launch yet another raid – has become a familiar one on Manchester’s notorious ‘Counterfeit Street’.

- DAMON WILKINSON

Since last November, when GMP Chief Constable Stephen Watson vowed to clean up the area around Bury New Road in Strangeways ‘once and for all’, more than 200 counterfeit shops have been closed down.

But what happens to all the fake designer clothes, handbags and other goods cops seize in the process? Since Operation Vulcan – the codename given to the crackdown – was launched, more than 1,000 tonnes of items have been impounded.

Some of the hats, t-shirts and gloves have been stripped of fake logos and given to charities and local community organisations.

Meanwhile, items that are unsuitable or unsafe for reuse have been shredded to create totally new items such as bedding or blankets.