Unboxed! Italian customs seize 12,000 fake consoles
Italian customs officers in the town of Torino came across a surprise haul of 12,000 games consoles recently. In all, they contained more than 47 million pirated video games for an estimated value of more than 47.5 million euros.
"These games featured well-known characters in the world of video games from the 1980s and 1990s, all covered by copyright, and belonging to the phenomenon of retrogaming which is experiencing a phase of strong popularity and commercial expansion," they said in a press release.
Illegal games, unsafe consoles
Produced clandestinely in disregard for European technical and safety standards, the consoles imported from China were to be sold online or in specialized stores.
"The consoles were reminiscent in their shape and distinctive characteristics, without the licenses, of the iconic retro consoles of the official producers" put on the market in recent years, the customs statement said.
The operation led to searches throughout Italy. Nine people of Italian nationality have been arrested and are being prosecuted for counterfeiting, commercial fraud, concealment and copyright infringement.
The consoles were destroyed.
(Michael Leahy. Photo: Photo Mateusz Dach/Pexels)