TO TERRORIST FUNDING

Consumers are being warned that the innocent purchases of counterfeit products from Internet sites and markets are funding terrorist and criminal organizations, including Al-Qaeda, the Mafia and the IRA.

LONDON, Consumers are being warned that the innocent purchases of counterfeit products from Internet sites and markets are funding terrorist and criminal organizations, including Al-Qaeda, the Mafia and the IRA. The sale of these fake goods, ranging from "designer" clothes to power tools to pharmaceutical products are directly linked to international terrorism and organized crime, according to Carratu International PLC, a leading investigator of intellectual property abuse.

Carratu International estimates that the global counterfeit market, which already accounts for 9% of world trade, will double in size over the next two years. Much of the increase will be due to sales from unregulated internet sites advertising fake goods.

"It does not have to be involve the sale of anything sinister," said Spencer Burgess, director of Carratu International's Intellectual Property Investigations division. "It's easy to make money from something as bland as a T-shirt. The perception many people have that counterfeiting is run by small groups that are just trying to make a few dollars on the side is completely misplaced. It is very much more organized and malicious."

Extensive enquiries by Carratu International have unearthed links between counterfeiting and Al-Qaeda, Hizbollah, the IRA, ETA, the Mafia, Chinese Triad gangs, the Japanese Yakuza crime syndicate, the Russian Mafia and drug cartels. Indeed, the recovery of Al-Qaeda training manuals had shown that the organization recommends the sale of counterfeit products to raise funds.

(snip)