The General Customs of Argentina (DGA, by its Spanish acronym) warned about “a deluge of irregular entries” of Inter Miami jerseys with Lionel Messi's name and number.
“The Inter Miami jerseys have become the new must-have item in irregular transactions”, the body pointed out in a communiqué, after agents providing services in the baggage control area of Jorge Newbery International Airport identified what they called “a clear trend”.
In this respect, Customs stated that its agents had “seized 250 jerseys over the last week in different procedures of baggage transgressions".
“It’s allowed to bring clothing into the country within the so-called simplified regime, but the cases detected over the last week have a volume that leads us to assume that it is being entered for profit”, he stated.
A case Customs called “iconic” is that of “an Argentine citizen arriving at Aeroparque on a Latam flight from Santiago, Chile”.
“When specialist Customs agents asked if she had anything to declare, she said no”, but “the scanner would show otherwise” when they found “a staggering 50 Inter Miami Messi jerseys, all labelled and in their plastic wrapping”, the body specified.
A subsequent check by counterfeit specialists proved that the jerseys were fake, which makes them prohibited goods.
Customs stated that, since the new Messi jersey is not yet officially for sale in Argentina and the counterfeits were similar to the original, “her intention was likely to sell them as authentic and profit unlawfully from the passion generated by the seven-time Ballon D’Or winner in this country”.
They further specified that “the jerseys in question were not the only thing the Passenger was trying to enter into this country ilegally: she also had three tablets, over 2,000 Pokemon cards, 100 sachets of protein and several boxes of muscle supplements”.
“It was all seized by Customs under Articles 977 and 978 of the Customs Code, since taking into account the number and variety of products, we can assume they were being imported with intent to sell them”, the Customs communiqué concluded.
by TELAM
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