Finance Minister Edward Scicluna today announced that 1,000 pairs of unbranded shoes, which were seized by Customs, will be donated to the Detention Services.

He explained that the Customs Department have their hands tied and cannot donate counterfeit items but unbranded shoes, such as the ones donated to the Detention Services could either be given to charitable institutions or organisations the State supports or sold by auction by the government, as is the case with vehicles seized.

The reason that the Courts have always ordered that counterfeit goods are destroyed and are not donated to charitable institutions is because of the possible risk the items end up being sold on the black market, a Customs representative told this portal.

The 1,000 pairs were seized along with another 2,000 or more goods.

The unbranded items were used to conceal undeclared goods.

The minister, along with the Customs Department Director General explained that Customs cannot just simply go on stopping and searching vehicles disembarking from the Catamaran regularly for instance, since it would infringe the right to freedom of movement of goods.

"Customs can stop and search vehicles on a risk assessment basis only," he said.

This was explained by the minister due to the fact that contraband goods do arrive in Malta from Sicily.

The minister concluded saying that opposed to the public’s perception, such cases as the one mentioned above goes to show that the Customs Department is fighting contraband.

The media were then invited to view a number of samples on display seized by Customs over the years to get an idea of what type of items are seized.

The items varied from bags, watches, PlayStation controls and automotive parts such as fuel filters, to Viagra, shampoos and shaving blades.