Organised crime suspect snared in anti-counterfeit operation

Police in South America have arrested a man suspected of being intimately involved in an organised criminal gang involved in money laundering and the trade in counterfeit goods.

Colombian national John Jairo Hincapie-Ramirez - who is wanted in the US on charges of money laundering in connection with trafficking in illicit goods and counterfeiting - was among more than 800 people arrested or placed under investigation in the Interpol-coordinated operation.

The arrests were made during raids in August which resulted in the seizure of fake goods worth $130m across 11 countries in South America and the disruption of networks involved in the production and distribution of counterfeit goods within South America and beyond.

The counterfeits intercepted  during Operation Jupiter VII included clothing, fertilizers, car windshields, alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, cosmetics, electric and electronic components, mobile phones, accessories, fuel, and construction materials.

A collection of valuable archaeological pieces from Costa Rica was also recovered by National Police in Venezuela.

"Initiatives such as Operation Jupiter VII show a clear link can be drawn between trafficking in illicit goods and transnational organized crime," said Interpol's executive director of police services Tim Morris.

" Not only is there the vital question of protecting public safety from potentially unsafe goods, but also of dismantling those illegal networks often connected to other serious forms of crime," he added.

The countries which took part in Operation Jupiter VII were Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.