Watches, batteries and shaving blades – you name it, they seized it.

According to the Customs Department yesterday, during January and February it confiscated 19 containers that were transporting more than half a million counterfeit products.

The containers seized had all originated from the Far East. But it was difficult to establish their final destination – except for one, which had Malta as its last stop.

The products seized included watches, men’s clothes, belts, spectacles, sport shoes, mobile-phone equipment, batteries and shaving blades.

The department said that more and more companies were requesting its intervention to protect the genuine products they manufactured.

After decisions are taken in court, the items seized are destroyed.

In comments made in January, Michel Danet, general secretary of the World Customs Departments Association, had said that the production of counterfeit items was “a crime aimed at economic sabotage”.

Trade in counterfeit products was unfortunately on the increase not only in terms of numbers but also in the variety of products, which included baby food, clothes, and aircraft engines.