The Prime Minister (PM), Jame Marape, who was impressed by the work done the officers in the PNG Customs and the police in busting a counterfeiting operation in Lae city, commended the two law enforcement agencies for the great effort in ensuring businesses and the public are not cheated by counterfeiters.
The illegal import operation in Lae saw the counterfeiting of the WasWas Soap brand, which was primarily produced by Lae company, Panamex Pacific (PNG) Ltd. Panamax last week reported to Lae Police that a foreign-owned company in Lae was involved in the sale and distribution of counterfeit Waswas Soap product.
“I commend Police and Customs for their success in this joint operation and subsequent arrests,” PM Marape said.
Marape said this is not the first time for such illegal operation happing in the country and admitted that such operations continue in parts of the country, something which law enforcement agencies need to crack down on because the country will stand to lose millions of Kina, should such counterfeiting operations continuing without discovering them and putting an end to them.
“Let this serve as a warning that our country will not be a place for illegal traders. Police, customs and Internal Revenue Commission (IRC) will be closely monitoring our ports and coming down hard on those involved.”