More than 1,000 boxes of counterfeit Shell lubricant worth about 500,000 yuan (US$76,177) were seized by police in Luohu District recently.
The two main suspects, both identified as Xie, had been detained. Police found more than 30,000 counterfeit labels at their warehouse in Pinghu, Longgang District.
A member of Shell (China) Ltd. staff surnamed Zhou told Luohu police the company had received complaints from consumers in Chengdu, Tianjin and Guangzhou, claiming their lubricants had quality problems. A company investigation revealed the so-called lubricants were counterfeit with the importing company located in Luohu District.
Police and market administration department investigators bought some of the counterfeit lubricant from the company March 25 and finally went to the warehouse in Queweike Science Park on the promise of buying large amounts of stock and seized the main suspects.
According to their account books, the company could have sold hundreds of boxes of Shell lubricants every day. Their clients were mainly in Hainan Province, Shanghai, Chengdu, Kunming and Wuhan.
The owner of the company surnamed Xie said he did not know the products were counterfeit.
He said he found the Shell lubricants sold in Malaysia were much cheaper than those in China when he traveled there in May 2009, so he contacted the wholesaler. He registered an export and import company in Shenzhen in October 2009 and hired six people to work for him, including his wife. The products were imported from Malaysia, but the labels were attached by his company.
Police said Xie had been involved in selling counterfeit products in Shanghai and Chengdu in the past.
Genuine Shell lubricant sells for about 400 yuan a bottle on the mainland, but Xie bought them from Malaysia for only 90 yuan a bottle and sold them for about 200 yuan.
Zhou advised motorists to buy genuine products only at licensed stores.
(By Wang Yuanyuan)
