TORREVIEJA COUNTERFEITED GOODS CRACKDOWN HAS BEGUN

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The mayor of Torrevieja, Eduardo Dolón, accompanied by the councillor recently appointed as being in charge of the police, Agustina Esteve, the Chief of Police Vicente Gutiérrez, and Lieutenant-Commander of the Guardia Civil, Juan Jesús Ruiz, all converged on Torrevieja´s Ecopark, to prove their commitment to cracking down on illegal street traders and the selling of counterfeit material throughout the summer.

The reason for their visit was without doubt to pose for photographs, but the aim was to highlight the recent decision to crack down on “lookie lookie” men in the city, by bearing witness to the destruction of a total of 10,291 confiscated counterfeited objects.

In total, there were 2,730 cd’s or dvd’s, 2,147 pairs of glasses, 1,884 items of clothing, 1,093 bags, 842 watches, 826 handbags, 429 caps, 190 belts and 150 watches. Eduardo Dolón reported that an assessment of the material seized would put the market value of the items at over 63,000 euro.

Dolón highlighted the excellent work being done by the Local Police and Guardia Civil to eradicate illegal street-hawking, following the decision taken at the last Security Council, to create special joint operations to address the problem. The mayor continued to state that Torrevieja traders themselves are very satisfied with the increase in numbers of police in the promenade area, which also offers greater security for citizens, which has been reflected in an increase in the sale of products in commercial establishments in the town.

This is of course not the first time this kind of action has been taken. We reported back in 2005 that former mayor, Pedro Hernandez Mateo, supervised the destruction of over 30,000 items of fake goods that were seized in Torrevieja during the month of May that year. In 2011, the current mayor, Eduardo Dolón, witnessed the destruction of 17,866 objects.

It was in May 2012 that we reported, “A new crack team of police officers are patrolling the streets of Torrevieja, with the single goal of cracking down on fraud and illegal street sales”, with the creation of a new 20-strong task force, the G.R.O., or Grupo de Refuerzo Operativo, specifically to deal with the problem of illegal street trading, even using minibuses destined for the disabled for their patrols, but between then and the last couple of weeks, the problem was spiralling out of control, starting with a reported lack of action from any police force or council department, leading to near riots in recent weeks.

The change in the person in charge of the police, which also calmed the internal problems their unions were highlighting between officers and the previous council lead, Eduardo Gil Rebollo, which had also spiralled into both a personal battle and resulted in times where there were no police on the streets, and the recent announcement of the Mayor that he too had seemingly had enough of the situation, have now shown that action has begun, which many hope will now continue to finally take action against those who are breaking the law in this way, a better solution to the problem than the only one suggested during the lull in direct action, the plan to fine those who purchase the goods, effectively criminalising the victims of crime.

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