Kenya seizes 85 mln USD worth of counterfeit goods in last 6 months: official

Source: Xinhua| 2019-02-12 01:16:50|Editor: yan
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NAIROBI, Feb. 11 (Xinhua) -- Kenya seized counterfeit goods worth 8.5 billion Kenyan shillings (85 million U.S. dollars) in the last six months, an official said on Monday.

Flora Mutahi, chairperson of the Anti-Counterfeit Agency (ACA), said Kenya is still grappling with the menace of counterfeit goods despite wide awareness and punitive laws.

"The danger of counterfeiting is huge and the fight is big and real because the illicit trade thrives where graft and corruption is entrenched," Mutahi told a media forum in Nairobi.

She said the country loses an estimated 2 billion dollars annually due to trade in counterfeit products.

The five most-counterfeited products are mobile phones, alcohol and beverages, DVDs and CDs, bottled drinking water, and pharmaceuticals, she said.

John Akoten, research director at ACA, said a recent study revealed that 70 percent of consumers have purchased counterfeit products, with 19 percent admitting that they did it knowingly and 81 percent saying they acquired the merchandise unknowingly.

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