Police officers seized $11.3M in counterfeit goods—from handbags to cologne—while investigating a report of gunshots at a self-storage facility on Clinton Street, according to the police department.
The officers were dispatched on the afternoon of June 17 to the area of Holden and Bow streets in Shrewsbury for the report of multiple gunshots. Responding officers began searching the area, including the Extra Space Storage facility located at 53 Clinton St.
Officers saw multiple vehicles while checking the units and encountered an individual in front of a storage unit. After the person left, officers noticed thousands of items of merchandise in the unit “neatly displayed on shelves, tables and boxes, and laid out in a manner similar to how they would be displayed in a retail store for sale,” police said.
There were a variety of items: handbags, sunglasses, hats, shoes, clothing, backpacks, cologne, phone cases, earbuds, and umbrellas, police said. Police said that officers suspected that many of the items were counterfeit, especially the brand name items including Rolex, Gucci, Prada, Luis Vuitton, Chanel, Nike, and North Face.
Police said the interior walls of three adjoining units had been removed.
Mattapoisett’s Powers and Associates—who represent more than sixty trademark holders— were recruited by Shrewsbury police to aid in identifying manufacturers, distributors, wholesalers, and retailers of counterfeit products.
Investigators collected 16,644 items of evidence from the storage units, which had an estimated MSRP total value of $11.3 million. Additionally, 19 items were seized by investigators from two vehicles searched worth another estimated $44,920, police said.