Gold rings worth £22,000 seized at Eastern Docks

Border Force officers at the inward freight controls at Dover's Eastern Docks have seized gold rings weighing 2.5 kilos and with a value of £22,000.

The rings, which carry a variety of suspected to be counterfeit designer logos including Mercedes, Dolce & Gabbana and Armani, were discovered in the late evening of Saturday (14 March 2015) when officers stopped and searched a Romanian-registered lorry and its load of electrodes.

An investigation into the seizure is being carried out by the National Crime Agency and a 22-year-old man from Romanian has been bailed until September while their enquiries continue.

Paul Morgan, Director of Border Force South East and Europe said: "This is an unusual and significant detection and shows that Border Force officers are on constant alert, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

"Counterfeit goods leave customers out of pocket with inferior and possibly dangerous products.

"The international trade in their sale is also linked to serious and organised crime and undercuts honest traders, damaging our economy."