Police seize 1,000 counterfeit Cisco products following raid

Joint investigation with Cisco saw 'hundreds of thousands of pounds' of fake hardware obtained

City of London Police have seized over 1,000 counterfeit hardware products in a raid following a joint investigation with Cisco.

On Tuesday (25 July) the City of London Police's Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) executed a search warrant on a property in Herne Bay, Kent, seizing counterfeit Cisco hardware worth "hundreds of thousands of pounds" (Some of which is pictured above).

The raid resulted in two individuals being interviewed under caution, the force confirmed.

Neil Sheridan, director of brand protection at Cisco, said: "We greatly value our working relationship with PIPCU and our joint efforts to ensure counterfeit products do not reach end-user installations, where they have the potential to seriously impact both the security and operational integrity of business-critical networks.

"This latest action has taken a significant volume of counterfeit products out of circulation and provides a vast amount of evidence and insight into others who are trading illegally. We are delighted with our co-operation with PIPCU and look forward to continuing our work together."

Just last month the City of London Police partnered with Microsoft to arrest four people accused of committing software service fraud.

The force said that the investigation into the counterfeit Cisco hardware is ongoing.

"The success of this operation has stopped organisations and companies from potential harm, should they have bought and used the counterfeit items," said detective sergeant Kevin Ives.

"It also highlights the excellent working relationship between the PIPCU and the technology industry to tackle the sale of counterfeit goods.

"We work closely with our partners to protect both their reputations and the consumer, taking action against those who commit intellectual property crime."