Cops target Canal Street counterfeits in dramatic raid

Two dozen New York City Sheriff’s officers descended on Chinatown’s Canal Street on Saturday afternoon, confiscating thousands of allegedly counterfeit designer handbags, watches, belts and sunglasses. 
The faux bags and accessories had a street value of $400,000, officials said. If the goods had been the real thing, they’d be worth $6-to-7 million.
The coordinated, 4:15 p.m. raids, which officials said were backed by a federal court warrant, struck the sidewalk vendors along the two blocks between Broadway and Mercer Street, and on nearby Lispenard Street.
Sheriffs also raided five large storefronts at the corner of Broadway and Canal. 
About 15 minutes before the raid, a man who appeared to be a “spotter” for the vendors noticed a marked police car pulling up at Canal and Broadway.

The spotter pointed to the police car, and shouted to the nearby sidewalk vendors, “They’re here!” 
Vendors moved quickly to cover up their goods, gathering  piles of bags, belts, handbags and other accessories — all sporting labels including “Gucci,” Louis Vuitton,” “Supreme,” “Coach,”  “Dior,” and “Michael Kors” — into the bedsheets that covered their tables. 
The vendors nonchalantly stood their ground, as if used to there being little consequence from passing police cars.
Then some 15 sheriff’s cars pulled up. Officers hopped from their cars, sending vendors scattering, bulging bedsheets in hand. 
Nearly all were stopped, however, and their goods seized by the officers, who are peace officers with civil enforcement powers.

One enterprising salesman was having none of it however — and was last seen snatching a luggage bag of already-confiscated goods and running out of sight toward Church Street.
Five vendors were charged, officials said.
An NYPD spokesperson did not immediately comment on the dramatic raid.

“The US District Office executed a US District Court seizure warrant today at four addresses as well as three vehicles in several areas in Lower Manhattan,” Sheriff Joseph Fucito confirmed to The Post.

  “We estimate the material to be valued – if sold lawfully – anywhere between $5-6 million,” he said. 
The goods hawked along Chinatown are obvious fakes, and the vendors deserve whatever penalties they face, passersby noted.
“The stuff is counterfeit, right?” reasoned Michelle Au, 29, who lives downtown.
“Well, selling that is illegal and the law is the law. What if people were selling knockoffs of your brand?”
Additional reporting by Laura Italiano