A major counterfeiting ring dealing in fake goods with a shop value of more than £5 million has been smashed by North Yorkshire investigators.

Trading standards officers searched premises in Leicester and found about 80,000 items of fake goods, many destined for North Yorkshire. The seizure is thought to be one of the biggest ever in England.

Items seized included perfume and clothes with an actual value of £750,000. The genuine items would be worth £4 million more than that.

Gordon Gresty, head of North Yorkshire trading standards service, welcomed the news today.

"This is a major seizure and will be a massive setback to the criminals who are flooding markets across the country, including North Yorkshire, with counterfeit merchandise," he said.

"The livelihood of honest retailers selling genuine items is being undermined by these counterfeiters who pay no taxation, no money to brand name owners and who are prepared to cheat customers in to believing that these products are genuine."

The trading standards operation was described as a very complex attempt to stop the big players in the fraud, and an excellent example of co-operation between North Yorkshire officers and Leicester police.

Glyn Roberts, a member of the Anti-Counterfeiting Group Council, said: "The operation undertaken by North Yorkshire trading standards has resulted in one of the largest seizures of counterfeit clothing that I have witnessed in my long career."

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