Fake soap factory busted

TWO Chinese nationals were arrested in ‘Chinatown’ in Windhoek’s Northern Industrial Area on Friday after the Namibian Police discovered that they were illegally producing a fake 250g version of the MAQ brand of washing powder.

The two have been charged with ‘the contravention of patent copyright and copyrights’, as well as with fraud. They were released on bail of N$10 000 and N$15 000 respectively on Saturday and are set to appear in court today.In a small ‘factory’ – with a bedroom as the front room – the two Chinese nationals were found to be running a business thriving at the expense of the real MAQ trademarked brand, which belongs to South African company Bliss Chemicals.By yesterday, it was still unclear how many people the two had employed, or what the monetary value of the goods in the ‘factory’ was.TIP OF THE ICEBERG?According to Inspector Rector Sandema of the Namibian Police’s Commercial Crime Unit, the counterfeit detergent ‘is inferior to the authentic MAQ washing powder in terms of both quality and quantity’, but was being sold in large numbers to small shops locally, as well as exported to Angola.He said the discovery was ‘just the tip of the iceberg’, adding that Oshikango was very likely a hotspot for this kind of activity.The Namibian Police discovered the fake detergent following complaints about the performance of the washing powder, after which a comparison to the original MAQ product was made with the help of Interpol. Following various investigations following the trail of the detergent, the Police then raided the factory on Friday.The most obvious differences between the real and the fake MAQ included the MAQ logo printed on the box (with the fake brand having a black outlineas opposed to a blue one for the original), the font and size of the ‘250g’ printed on the box (with the fake one being a large yellow font as opposed to a smaller orange one on the original), and the consistency of the detergent (with the fake one being very powdery, and the real one having a richer and more granulated consistency).In addition, while the package is supposed to weigh in at 250 grams, the finished packages at the ‘factory’ weighed anywhere from 170 to 245 grams, and complaints of the fake detergent causing burns on the hands have been received from the public.From what has been established so far, the counterfeit MAQ is only being produced in the 250g box size. Real MAQ products range in sizes from a 35g sachet all the way to a 5kg bag.The fake 250g MAQ was being sold from the factory to the client for N$3,50 to N$4,00 per 250g, who would in turn sell the product to the public for anywhere between N$5,00 to N$8,50. The real MAQ, on the other hand, which is distributed legally mainly to larger chain stores, is sold to the public for around N$7,00.The Police are currently working to establish where the boxes for the counterfeit detergent are being produced, and who else may have been involved in the manufacturing process.Tony Nel, the distributing agent for MAQ in Namibia, expressed his gratitude to the Police for uncovering the counterfeiting, and said the company would work closely with the Police to ensure that all illegal versions of the product are taken off the market.’We’re shocked, basically,’ Nel said.’The agent and the principal take the matter very seriously, and any information coming forward would help to ensure that inferior products are taken off the market.’Another representative of the agent said that the company had also received complaints of the washing powder burning the hands due to its caustic nature. He said the fake washing powder would have been the cause of this, as the original detergent is tested and packaged under stringent conditions in South Africa.Various studies have found counterfeit products of all types to be hazardous as they are not bound by industry safety standards.When The Namibian visited the site on Friday afternoon, the Police had already confiscated three bakkie loads of the detergent from one of the client stores.The ‘factory’ contained thousands more boxes at various stages of the assembly line, along with the chemicals used to make the detergent, scattered around the room.In addition to the counterfeit MAQ washing powder, the makeshift ‘factory’ – which in itself presents a case for the labour commissioner’s attention given the deplorable working conditions there – the outfit was also packaging the same detergent into a box branded ‘QWA’ washing powder.On the QWA boxes, the manufacturing company is identified as Yangste River Properties CC, of PO Box 98243, Windhoek, Namibia (spelt ‘Namibla’ on the box).The brand promised ‘softer, cleaner and more comfortable’ clothes, with the slogan reading ‘QWA – Your Best Choose’ (choice).Sandema said this was the first counterfeit washing powder found in Namibia. Other counterfeiting operations usually produced CDs and DVDs, he said.nangula@namibian.com.na