York Regional Police have charged eight people after thousands of counterfeit goods were seized in a raid at a Toronto-area mall almost one year ago.
Police said they began an investigation in April 2018 after receiving complaints of fake goods being sold at Pacific Mall, located at Kennedy Road and Steeles Avenue in Markham.
On June 27, 2018, more than 30 officers executed search warrants at seven businesses in the mall and at a home of one of the store owners. Officers seized luxury items, including clothing and handbags, which police thought to be counterfeit. Cash was also seized from the home.
Police said they met with representatives from companies such as Adidas, Chanel, MCM, Louis Vuitton, Dior, Givenchy, Cartier and others in August and found the goods seized from the mall were counterfeit.
Markham residents Xiaoting Du, 32; Jing Sun, 55; Siwen Sun, 29, and Toronto residents Xie Min Wu, 55; Jie Ni Lai, 39, and Yi Long, 31, have all been charged with knowingly or recklessly making false representation to the public and selling or distributing goods in association with a trademark.
Aurora resident Dan Chen, 34, and Ajax resident Yue Qin, 29, also face the same charges.
Du has also been charged with possession of proceeds of crime.
York police thanked the New York Police Department and Canadian border services for helping with the investigation.
Anyone with information is asked to call police at 1-866-876-5423, ext. 6612 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-TIPS.