At What Price Style?
by Abby Boettger

A friend came to visit me in New York City a couple of weeks ago. When we met for Sunday brunch, she held up her purse (which was very cute) and said, “Check it out! I bought it on Canal Street for $40. It's a Kate Spade. Well, not a real one of course, but close enough.” Later I looked up the price of its legal counterpart online: $275. Two questions came to mind: What are you buying for $275, and what are you buying for $40? “A purse” may be the answer to the first question, but it's definitely not the answer to the second, especially when you consider that the sale of counterfeit goods has been linked increasingly to terrorism.

Evidence supporting a link between counterfeiting and terrorism has been building. In a July 2003 statement, Interpol Secretary General Ronald Noble wrote, “Interpol is sounding the alarm that intellectual property crime is becoming the preferred method of funding for a number of terrorist groups.” Interpol, the International Anti-Counterfeiting Coalition, private intellectual property investigation firms, and other sources report counterfeiting cases, but terrorist financing information is tightly controlled and highly classified due to national security issues. Even so, numerous cases that link counterfeiting and terrorism have been documented.

In October 2003, $1.2 million worth of counterfeit German brake pads and shock absorbers were seized in Lebanon , and it was later found that profits were destined for supporters of Hizbollah. Additionally, Interpol cites the case of Ali Khalil Mehri, who was arrested in Paraguay in 2000 for selling pirated music CDs, Sega, Sony and Nintendo game discs, the profits from which he then remitted to Hizbollah. Found along with the music CDs were discs containing footage of terrorist attacks and interviews promoting suicide bombings. It is suspected that these were used as propaganda and fundraising tools for Hizbollah.

Paramilitary groups in Northern Ireland have also been linked to counterfeiting. They are known to be involved in counterfeit cigarette trafficking and the control of markets where other counterfeit goods are sold. Less recently, these same groups were connected to the sale of pirated copies of The Lion King .

Additionally, New York 's Joint Terrorist Taskforce reported that a store on Broadway had used profits from counterfeit t-shirt sales to fund the World Trade Center bombing in 1993. The bombing killed six people and injured over 1,000. Can you imagine if “I [heart] New York ” T shirts actually funded such heinous intentions?

Several incidents have also caused law enforcement officials to suspect a link between counterfeiting and al-Qaeda. A sender of a shipment of counterfeit toiletries and perfume seized in Denmark on its way from Dubai to the United Kingdom was later identified as a member of al-Qaeda. In New York City , a raid on a counterfeit handbag shop revealed faxes relating to the purchase of bridge inspection equipment. Two weeks later while searching the apartment of a Lebanese member of an organized crime syndicate as part of an investigation into his assault, police discovered fake drivers' licenses and lists of suspected al-Qaeda terrorists, including the names of workers from the raided handbag shop. In addition, recovered al-Qaeda training manuals have revealed that the organization recommends the sale of counterfeit goods as one means to raise funds to support the group's operations.

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