3 arrested as police crack counterfeit Ensure Gold milk operation
Police in Nakhon Pathom arrested 2 Thais, and one Chinese after uncovering a fake milk powder operation, which cost the brand more than 4.5 million baht in lost sales
Police arrested two Thais and a Chinese national after finding more than 5,000 tins of counterfeit adult milk powder from a popular brand at two houses in Nakhon Pathom.
Pol Maj-General Witthaya Sriprasertparp, chief of the Consumer Protection Division (CPD), told the press on Tuesday that the arrests and raids were made on Friday after receiving tip-offs that fake Ensure Gold milk powder vanilla flavour was being sold via online platforms.
He said the CPD found that a shop with a Chinese name sold 850-gram tins of Ensure Gold milk powder for just 690 baht, compared to the authentic product, which costs more than 1,000 baht.
Witthaya said the CPD also found that the owner would close the shop after a while, and open a new one to sell the product to escape suspicion.
Eventually, the operation was traced to the two houses in Nakhon Pathom’s Nakhon Chaisri district, and the CPD obtained a warrant to search them on Friday.
At the first house, police arrested a Thai man and woman identified as Nop and Wiriya and seized 1,535 tins of fake Ensure Gold. The two claimed they did not know the powdered milk was fake, adding that they had been hired by a Chinese man to pack and deliver the milk as per orders.
Police arrested the Chinese man in question at the second house, where they also found 3,840 tins of fake Ensure Gold. In all, police said they have seized 5,375 tins of fake milk, which caused damages worth 4.5 million baht to the brand.
Wiriya reportedly told police she had been hired by a Chinese man called Wang to pack and deliver the milk. She said her monthly wage was 16,000 baht and over the past two weeks, she has fulfilled some 100 orders per day.
