Agents of the National Police, in a joint operation with Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency and in collaboration with the European Office for the Fight against Fraud, have intervened a ton of "pirate" railway bearings, supplied by a company from Zaragoza to Ferrocarriles of the Generalitat Valenciana through public tender.
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The use of these bearings would have put the safety of the trains and that of the passengers themselves at risk, since their breakage would cause the derailment of the wagons.
The investigation began as a result of a complaint filed by a company, which warned of the acquisition of 160 bearings that supposedly belonged to its brand by Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat Valenciana, but that had been provided by another company that participated in the public tender. and that he obtained the tender for the same price as them.
When Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat Valenciana received the first order for 80 bearings, they were suspicious due to the lack of similarity between those received and those they had originals of the same brand, so they contacted the investigated company, who they were sent a document that “confirmed” its authenticity.
Due to the fact that the document received raised suspicions of falsity, Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat Valenciana decided to contact the original company, who, with their own experts, confirmed the falsity of the bearings, proceeding to file a complaint for infringement of the brand and due to the high risk involved in counterfeiting pieces of this importance.
During the investigation of the company supplying the bearings, importing companies were found to have records of retention and destruction at various European borders. They were irregular imports that contravene the regulations of the European Union in trademark infringement.
With all this information, two warehouses were inspected in Zaragoza, finding a sample of the bearings sold to Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat Valenciana and proceeding to the seizure of the 160 bearings (one ton) sold in Valencia.
One person has been arrested while another is being investigated for an alleged crime against industrial property and another for smuggling. ■
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