Minnesota CBP intercepts hand-sanitising stations worth $1m

Customs officers in Minnesota have seized 440 counterfeit hand-sanitising stations with built-in Android advertising displays that if genuine would have been worth more than $1m.

The stations were discovered in a rail container at International Falls Port of Entry that was destined to arrive in Ranier. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers inspected the shipment and decided that the hand-sanitizing stations were in violation of intellectual property rights (IPR) regulations.

There has been a spike in illicit trade in fraudulent COVID-19-related goods since the start of the crisis, with 840 shipments intercepted in the first half of the year alone.