Police donate 1,000 tonnes of fake designer gear to the homeless after huge counterfeit raids – but they have to remove bogus brand labels before giving them away

Police have donated 1,000 tonnes of fake designer gear to the homeless after a huge counterfeit raid – but they had to remove bogus brand labels before giving them away. 

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) shut down over 100 fake designer shops in central Manchester as part of ‘Operation Vulcan’. 

The large-scale operation aims to rid the area of counterfeit goods.

Many of the shops were found to be selling fake designer clothes, handbags, shoes and Rolex watches.

The raid resulted in almost 1,000 tonnes of counterfeit items being repurposed, recycled or donated to the homeless.

Greater Manchester Police (GMP) shut down over 100 fake designer shops in central Manchester as part of ‘Operation Vulcan’

Many of the shops were found to be selling fake designer clothes, handbags, shoes and Rolex watches

Pictured: Greater Manchester Police donate clothes to charity Mustard Tree after the raid

However, the police had to remove the fake designer labels from the clothing – which is called debranding. 

Items that were unsuitable or unsafe were shredded to create new items such as bedding or blankets.

Packaging and boxes that the items were sold in have been recycled into insulation for houses.

Greater Manchester Police donated hundreds of items of clothes to a local anti-poverty charity the Mustard Tree.

The fake labels had to be removed from the counterfeit clothing before they could be donated

Pictured: The counterfeit good inside one of the shops that were shut down for selling them

A Greater Manchester Police officer poses next to some of the counterfeit designer clothes which were confiscated

The charity works to combat poverty, inequality, and homelessness in Manchester.

Inspector Dan Cullum of Greater Manchester Police said: ‘The community and their needs are at the heart of Operation Vulcan and the fact that we have been able to repurpose and recycle everything and give it back to those in need really makes a difference.’

Harry Dwan from the Mustard Tree said: ‘This donation is gratefully received and will now be provided to those who need it most such as those sleeping on the streets, low-income families and those who are most vulnerable in the community.

‘We can’t thank the Op Vulcan team enough.’

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