The Customs Department has seized 36 containers containing thousands of fake items at the Freeport, the department said in a statement.

Describing it as the largest ever haul seized in Malta, the department said it will take days to complete the investigation.

The operation involved officers from the Container Monitoring Unit, the Scanning Unit and the Intellectual Property Rights Unit, together with employees of the Freeport Terminals Limited and security officers of the Malta Freeport Corporation.

The department looked into 44 containers, most of them 45-foot long while others were 40 feet long. In 36 of them, the department discovered thousands of products which were fake.

The department said that the first half of the containers had items which were legal, while the inner half contained the fake items.

The containers originated from an undisclosed Asian country and were on their way to an undisclosed African country.

So far, the investigation has been completed into only eight of the 36 containers that have been seized.

So far, the department has lifted 91,750 accessories for mobile phones; 46,863 clothing items; 43,915 pairs of sports shoes; 14,365 track suits; 7,700 pairs of shoes and 750 game controllers.

The department said that work will now continue on the remaining 28 containers and more information will be given once the operation is completed.

File photo