PHILADELPHIA – U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers in Philadelphia seized an international parcel that contained more than 1,152 counterfeit Juul pods, three chargers and a Juul device in Philadelphia Monday.
CBP officers inspected the parcel April 1. The parcel, which arrived from China, was manifested as “plastic pipe sample.’ The parcel instead contained 36 cartons of Juul pods that was destined to an address in Newark, Delaware. Each carton contains 8 packs of four pods each. The parcel also contained one Juul device and three Juul USB chargers. Officers suspected the products to be counterfeit and detained the parcel.
Working with CBP’s Consumer Products and Mass Merchandising Centers for Excellence and Expertise, the agency’s trade experts, officers verified the merchandise as counterfeits through the trademark holders.[ms-protect-content id=”35525,36371,36374,36464,36481″]
If authentic, the merchandise would have a Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price (MSRP) of nearly $4,700.
Counterfeit products are often manufactured in unregulated facilities and with substandard materials. Counterfeit products that are inhaled or ingested pose even greater danger to consumers because there is no way to verify the authenticity or the safety of the product’s ingredients.
“One of the chief reasons why Customs and Border Protection takes intellectual property rights enforcement so serious is because of the potential health and safety threats counterfeit goods like these electronic nicotine products pose to American consumers,” said Casey Durst, CBP Director of Field Operations in Baltimore. “CBP will continue to work closely with our trade and consumer safety partners to identify and seize counterfeit merchandise, especially those products that pose potential harm to American consumers.”
CBP protects businesses and consumers every day through an aggressive Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) enforcement program. Importation of counterfeit merchandise can cause significant revenue loss, damage the U.S. economy, and threaten the health and safety of the American people.
Counterfeit Juul products could pose a health and safety threat to consumers.
Counterfeit inhaled products could pose a
health and safety threat to consumers.
On a typical day in 2018, CBP officers seized $3.7 million worth of products with IPR violations. Learn more about what CBP did during “A Typical Day” in 2018.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2017, the number of IPR seizures increased 8 percent to 34,143 from 31,560 in FY 2016. The total estimated MSRP of the seized goods, had they been genuine, decreased to $1.2 billion from $1.38 billion in FY 2016. Read more 2017 IPR Enforcement Statistics.
As a result of CBP enforcement efforts, Homeland Security Investigations agents arrested 457 individuals, obtained 288 indictments, and received 242 convictions related to intellectual property crimes in 2017.
Source: CBP[/ms-protect-content]