By Hugo Passarello
PARIS--The prosecutors office ordered the arrest of 12 people in connection with a ring for trafficking in fake Hermes International SCA (RMS.FR) handbags, the office said Friday.
The arrested people were all part of the trafficking chain, including suppliers, crafters and retailers as well as some workers from Hermes, the prosecutors office said.
A police investigation found fully equipped illegal workshops in Paris and Lyon, the country's second-largest city, where the counterfeiters were making the bags. The police confiscated 20 cubic meters of fake handbags and top-quality raw materials. The police also seized tens of thousands of euros in cash. The materials were valued at 18 million euros ($22.6 million) at least.
The authorities froze 22 bank accounts in Hong Kong and three others in Cyprus, holding several hundreds of thousands of euros.
Write to Hugo Passarello at hugo.passarello@dowjones.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 15, 2012 10:46 ET (14:46 GMT)
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