A piracy operation that is suspected of selling in excess of $10 million worth of fake Cisco products has been busted by officers from the City of London police.

The operation was broken by a joint force of the City of London police working with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alongside Cisco’s Global Brand Protection team on the investigation.

Two men aged 36 and 35 were arrested at their homes in Sawbridgeworth and Birchanger, while a third man, aged 38, was cuffed at work in Bishop’s Stortford.

Between December 2012 and April this year, some 40 shipments of suspected counterfeit Cisco gear is believed to have been posted from the suspects’ business address to the UK, and intercepted by US Customs and Border Protection.

PIPCU detective inspector, Mick Dodge said: “Last week’s action saw PIPCU dismantle a criminal gang suspected of cheating the computer industry out of millions of pounds.”

“Cisco products are used by organizations worldwide to underpin their IT infrastructures. Businesses need to have confidence in their supply chains and be aware of the risks that counterfeit products can have on their networks, potentially compromising integrity and functionality including significant network outages.”

International co-operation to fight counterfeit goods has been stepped up of late. Europol and US officials closed down 292 domains as part of the long-running ‘In Our Sights’ campaign to clamp down on counterfeit goods.

Source: InfoSecurity