A joint Interpol and Europol public health and safety operation resulted in the seizure of more than 10,000 tons and one million liters of hazardous fake food and drink across 57 countries. Dubbed “Operation Opson V,” the operation resulted in seizures ranging from nearly nine tons of counterfeit sugar contaminated with fertilizer in Khartoum, Sudan, to Italian officers recovering more than 85 tons of olives which had been “painted” with copper sulfate solutions to enhance their color.
Involving police, customs, national food regulatory bodies, and partners from the private sector, checks were carried out at shops, markets, airports, seaports, and industrial estates between November 2015 and February 2016. A number of arrests were made worldwide throughout the operation and investigations are continuing. Among the aims of the operation is to identify and disrupt the organized crime networks behind the trafficking in fake goods and enhance cooperation between the involved law enforcement and regulatory authorities.
In Greece, officers discovered three illicit factories producing counterfeit alcohol. Police seized equipment used in the manufacturing process, including labels, caps, and empty bottles in addition to more than 7,400 bottles of fake alcohol and counterfeit labels. In the United Kingdom, authorities recovered nearly 10,000 liters of fake or adulterated alcohol including wine, whisky, and vodka. In Burundi, more than 36,000 liters of illicit alcohol were seized.
After police in Thailand carried out checks on an individual found to be transporting four tons of meat illegally imported from India, further investigations led to the discovery of an illicit network operating across 10 provinces. Officers recovered and destroyed more than 30 tons of illegal beef and buffalo meat unfit for human consumption, which had been destined for sale in supermarkets.
False labeling proved to be a common thread for all types of foodstuffs around the world. In Australia, testing of 450 kg of honey revealed it had been blended or adulterated, and a consignment of peanuts had been repackaged and relabeled as pine nuts, posing a significant threat to allergy sufferers.
“Fake and dangerous food and drink threaten the health and safety of people around the world who are often unsuspectingly buying these potentially very dangerous goods,” said Michael Ellis, head of Interpol’s Trafficking in Illicit Goods unit, which coordinated activities between the world police body’s participating countries across the globe. “With Operation Opson V resulting in more seizures than ever before, we must continue to build on these efforts to identify the criminal networks behind this activity whose only concern is making a profit, no matter what the cost to the public.”
First launched in 2011, the Opson operations have grown from involving just 10 countries across Europe to involving nearly 60 countries in every region of the world and resulting in the seizure of tens of thousands of tons of fake and substandard food and drink.
