The following report was submitted by a British Movement activist from Manchester. Bury New Road, close to Strangeways prison in North Manchester, has a reputation as the ‘counterfeit capital’ of Britain.
Walking away from Manchester city centre, along the Bury New Road, and just past Manchester’s Strangeways Prison, you will see groups of young Asian men stood outside what appears to be closed shops. The men are aged from their early twenties to late forties and they will usually ask if you’re buying or selling.
The whole feel of the place is of dodgy dealings with a threat of violence if anyone objects. Show interest and doors are opened or you will be asked to go round the back to access the apparently closed shop.
Inside, the shops are filled with counterfeit goods which have been imported, then labelled at secret factories nearby, before being sold to the public. The large number of shops spans a good half mile or so and there are hundreds of Asian men working in this rundown area.
Greater Manchester Police regular raid this criminal set up, sometime twice a year, however there are just so many shops along the front with many others down the side streets, the police don`t have the resources to raid all the premises involved.
Each police raid (involving up to a hundred officers) usually nets up to six million pounds worth of fake goods, but the whole operation is usually back up and running in a matter of days.
Manchester City Council, which is controlled by Labour, says nothing of having this crime empire just outside of its city centre. The fact that all of those who work in the area are Asian men (no women or white people are employed at the many shops), smacks of racism and sexism.
With such murky on goings in this district, who knows if there are terrorist supporters, illegal immigrants and/or wanted criminals ‘working’ in the shops or the streets outside.
When immigration or police vans arrive I have seen with my own eyes these young Asian men simply pulling down the shutter doors and walking away and within minutes the side street was full of Asian men. Their physical strength in terms of numbers was evident and would easily hinder any team of immigration officers.
“Twelve tonnes of fake designer gear was seized in a raid on a warehouse in Strangeways.
The target for an operation was in the heart of a cluster of businesses on Bury New Road known throughout the UK as “Counterfeit Street”.
Two people were arrested and the haul includes counterfeit shoes, clothing, handbags, watches, wallets, perfume and sunglasses. They bore the names of Yves Saint Laurent; Gucci; Louis Vuitton; Dior; Vivienne Westwood; Chanel; and Balenciaga.
The goods recovered are though to have a street value of several million pounds.”
Manchester Evening News 16 July 2021
Police seize fake North Face and Nike clothing, watches and perfume worth more than £7.5m after raids on Manchester’s ‘Counterfeit Street’ as 15 people are arrested.
Daily Mail 12 March 2020
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Top Image: David Shankbone, CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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