Police bust counterfeit Apple accessories racket, seize material worth Rs 3 crore in Hyderabad
Hyderabad police busted a counterfeit Apple accessories racket, arresting three persons and seizing goods worth ₹3 crore. The suspects sourced fake products from Mumbai and sold them as genuine through a retail outlet in Koti. A total of 2,761 items were confiscated.
Hyderabad: In a major crackdown on counterfeit electronics, the Task Force (Central) team busted a racket involved in the illegal sale of fake Apple-branded mobile accessories and arrested three persons, apart from seizing material worth Rs 3 crore at Mir Alam mandir.
The suspects have been identified as Mohd Shahid Ali (48), Irfan Ali (49), and Santosh Rajpurohit (39).
According to police officials, the trio was procuring fake Apple products from agents in Mumbai and selling them in Hyderabad by packaging them with forged Apple logos, MRP stickers, and security seals to resemble genuine products.
During the raid on July 26, police seized a total of 2,761 counterfeit Apple products, including AirPods, watches, USB cables, adaptors, etc.
Mohd Shahid Ali stored the counterfeit goods at his residence after procuring them from Mumbai. Irfan Ali acted as a distributor, while Santosh Rajpurohit sold the items through his retail outlet, PM Mobiles, located in Gujarati Galli, Koti.
“The suspects duped customers by selling the fake items as original Apple accessories, causing financial loss to buyers and damaging the brand’s reputation,” said Y.V.S. Sudheendra, DCP, Task Force.
The suspects, along with the seized material, have been handed over to the Mirchowk Police for further investigation and legal proceedings.
