UAE raids secure biggest ever haul of HP fakes

Police in the United Arab Emirates have made the largest single seizure of fake HP goods, taking 1m printer cartridges and components.

Simultaneous raids on five locations in Dubai and Ajman saw officials seize 750,000 empty print cartridges and 100,000 counterfeit versions of their boxes. UAE police also found 150,000 laser print cartridges and 50,000 security labels.

The raids followed an investigation by HP. “It is encouraging to see that our support led directly to the largest seizure of fake items since we began the Anti-counterfeiting Program in 2006,” David Cooper, director of the HP Global Anti-counterfeiting Program, said.

In the seven years since HP established the anti-counterfeiting program, police in UAE have run multiple raids on suppliers of fake printing components. The scale of the seizures has increased, with the one million items in the latest raid more than all seizures made in the 2009 fiscal year.