Finland Times

The cargo which arrived by air from Hong Kong containing 2,500 smart phones was deemed counterfeit by customs officials.

The phone sets were intended for the European Union market and their estimated value was over 1.3 million euros.

The phone sets were destroyed at a waste handling plant under the supervision of customs.
The customs has advised consumers to be vigilant especially when it comes to purchases made online.

The counterfeits and their packaging are done so artfully that it makes it very difficult for consumers to distinguish between a genuine and a counterfeit product.

The counterfeit smart phones can be very dangerous because their batteries can catch fire or explode.

The smart phones were discovered during a routine check. Unusual stickers on the phone screens had caught the eye of inspectors, reported news agency Xinhua quoting Yle.

Customs inspector Riikka Pakkanen told Yle that smart phones replaced automobile spare parts as the most popular product for smuggling in 2014.

Helsinki is well served with nonstop air routes from Asia. Once a product has entered Finland, it will be part of the free movement of goods within the European Union.

During 2014 the Finnish customs at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport made some 20 confiscations of smaller size. The major confiscation in late 2014 resulted in a brief lull, but counterfeit mobile phones have shown up again in recent weeks, inspector Pakkanen said.

Even though Helsinki has lost ground as a gateway for forged auto spare parts, counterfeit bearings keep coming in. Among the more esoteric faked products were auto break-pads made of cow excrement, Finnish customs told Yle.

Inspector Pakkanen said she is particularly concerned with items connected with electricity. As the price of copper is fairly high in the world market, counterfeit producers try to avoid using copper and this may result in explosions when the false equipment is used, she said.