PHOTOS: Over $6M worth of fake designer watches seized at O’Hare Airport: CBP

CHICAGO — Over $6 million worth of counterfeit watches were seized at O’Hare International Airport over the weekend.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers stationed at a Cargo Examination Station near the airport inspected a shipment which contained a total of 243 different designer brand watches.

According to CBP, the shipment arrived from China on May 4 and had an ultimate destination to an address in Bensonville.

CBP says the shipment was seized for containing counterfeit version of the following brand names: Audermars Piguet, Breitling, Bvlgari, Cartier, Omega, Paneria, Patek Phillipe, Richard Mille, Rolex, Tag Heuer, and Vacheron.

CBP’s Centers of Excellence and Expertise deemed the items to be counterfeit, and if genuine, would have had a combined Manufacturer’s Suggested Retail Price of over $6.64 million.

“The distribution of counterfeit goods defraud U.S. consumers and has a significant adverse impact on businesses by robbing our country of jobs and tax revenues,” said LaFonda D. Sutton-Burke, Director of Field Operations, Chicago Field Office. “CBP is the first line of defense, and our officers intercepted this threat before these fake items were introduced into the commerce and reached consumers, which provides economic security for our nation.”

Just last month, Chicago CBP seized an estimated $9.22 million in counterfeit watches.

For more information, go to: www.CBP.gov.