Five men arrested after fake perfume raid in New York

Five men have been detained after a police operation in New York uncovered a multimillion-dollar counterfeit perfume ring.

The gang are accused of selling counterfeit copies of leading perfume brands such as Chanel, Lacoste, Marc Jacobs, Dolce & Gabanna, Christian Dior, Gucci, Juicy Couture and Calvin Klein. Some of the bottles were found to be laced with hazardous chemicals, including known carcinogen Di-2-ethylhexyl-phthalate.

More than 60,000 bottles of perfume were recovered in the operation, which was a joint exercise between Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) and the NYPD. The agencies estimate the illicit business turned over around $2.6m a year.

The five suspects - Patrick Badal (45), Abul Kashem (49), Kaium Shah (52), Kenny Hi (61) and Parvez Shazzed (42) - reportedly sourced the counterfeits from China and sold them onto wholesalers across the US at a knockdown price.