Paris 2024 “Goodies”, football jerseys… During the Olympic Games, the hunt for counterfeit products continues

As Marseille hosts football events for the 2024 Olympic Games, customs officers are stepping up their vigilance to examine packages and spot any counterfeit products.

Customs officers remain on the alert during the Olympic Games. In addition to tracking down contraband cigarettes, narcotics and counterfeits, they are looking for all kinds of goodies stamped “Paris 2024” in markets, train stations… But also in postal sorting centers, where thousands of packages arrive every day.

Customs officers inspect the packages and open any that look suspicious. This time, they come across football jerseys. : “There are some from Brazil and the French team, in particular”explains Jean-Daniel Zanetti, head of the Marseille customs brigade. In total, 125 counterfeit jerseys. “It’s really the merchandise that we have during the Olympic Games, namely sports items, jerseys… Both from the men’s and women’s teams.”he specifies.

These jerseys are intended for resale on social networks, in markets or in neighborhood clubs, while Marseille hosts matches of the Olympic football tournament. And the packages often have the same origin : “Mainly Asia and China. We really have a surge in articles arriving from those countries.”says Jean-Daniel Zanetti.

And sometimes you have to have a flair to avoid missing these counterfeit products. One of the tips of Nicolas Chevoleau, deputy head of the Marseille customs brigade, is to look carefully at the color of the tape used for the packaging. : “Yellow Scotch, Asian originhe assures us, having just spotted a suspicious box. And indeed, we have counterfeit products in it.” The package has a German label. This is a trick to avoid checks. : having packages relabelled in a European Union country in an attempt to evade customs. “Today, it is much more difficult because there is a systematic relabeling of packages. We must therefore be much more vigilant.”explains Nicolas Chevoleau.

Customs officers are also wary of packages from Eastern Europe for fireworks, and from the Netherlands and Spain for narcotics… These are also popular goods during the Olympic Games. The brigade has just seized ten kilos of cannabis grass in packages.