Not just luxury fakes: Delhi Police exposes counterfeit market spreading its web to everyday goods

A series of raids across Delhi over the past few months has revealed a disturbing reality — counterfeiters in the national capital are no longer limiting themselves to luxury knock-offs or small-scale fakes.

From “desi ghee” to antacid powders, engine oil to shampoo and detergent, and from jeans to school textbooks, the Delhi Police have unearthed a vast and fast-expanding counterfeit economy that is directly infiltrating every home.

“Counterfeiting is a serious offence but our teams are also keeping strict vigil and arrested those who are behind,” a senior police officer said.

Since 2023, police have unearthed 740 cases related to the production and sale of fake goods, police said, adding that from January to September this year, a total of 132 cases have been registered under the Copyright Act.

The officer said the network has emerged as one of the biggest threats to public health and consumer safety in recent years.

In one of the major raids, police teams in Alipur recovered around 1,500 kgs of spurious ‘desi ghee’, packed in tins with labels mimicking popular brands.

The product, police said, was nothing more than a mix of refined oil, artificial flavour and low-grade additives that could cause severe digestive and long-term health issues. Along with the stocked product, police seized drums of raw material and packing machines that had been running unchecked for months.

A similar unit in Bawana Industrial Area was later busted, where thousands of litres of adulterated ghee were found stored in unhygienic conditions, the police said.

The racketeers were using low-cost vegetable oil blended with chemicals designed to mimic the aroma of ‘desi ghee’, they said.

However, the most alarming crackdown came when police unearthed a unit manufacturing fake antacid sachets — the type used almost daily in households.

Officers seized nearly 1 lakh packets along with raw powders, packaging rolls and sealing machines. The packaging was nearly identical to leading brands, making them extremely difficult for an ordinary buyer to detect, the police said.

The raiding team found that the fake antacids did not contain the correct medicinal compounds, raising fears that consumers relying on them during emergencies could suffer serious complications.

In another operation, over 1 lakh counterfeit tablets, capsules and ointments, including steroids and pain-relief medication, were recovered from warehouses linked to a wider interstate supply chain. Several illegal factories outside Delhi were also shut following leads generated from the earlier raids, they said.

Delhi’s counterfeit market has also not spared daily essentials like toothpaste, shampoo and detergent.

A raid in northeast Delhi led to the seizure of over 18,000 fake toothpaste tubes, along with tens of thousands of empty tubes and chemical paste ready for filling. Officers described the conditions as hazardous, with chemicals being mixed in open containers.

During another search, a unit producing counterfeit shampoo, detergent, soap and floor cleaners was busted in Rohini. The products were packaged using fake labels and holograms of major brands and were being supplied to wholesale markets and local shops at cheap margins, they said.

Bottled water, jeans and other consumer goods also targeted.

The Delhi Police recently arrested two men for selling fake packaged drinking water, filled using borewell sources and marked with forged trademark stickers.

The police said unsuspecting customers consuming the water during hot months were exposed to serious health risks.

In another case, three suspects were arrested for selling counterfeit branded jeans in popular markets. As many as 684 fake items were seized.

Fake automotive products also formed a major share of the recoveries.

In a large-scale bust, the Crime Branch officers seized over 1 lakh counterfeit auto spare parts, including brake pads, clutch plates, spark plugs and bearings. Many were found extremely poor in quality, posing life-threatening danger to drivers and commuters, they said.

In another crackdown, an illegal factory producing fake engine oil under leading brand names was dismantled in Alipur. Police recovered drums of low-grade oil, hundreds of empty bottles, holograms, stickers and packing machines. A separate raid in Anand Parbat led to the recovery of nearly 2,000 counterfeit oil filters along with dyes and printing blocks used for branding.

Meanwhile, in one of the year’s most financially significant recoveries, police seized over 1.7 lakh pirated NCERT books worth more than Rs 2 crore.

A father-son duo was arrested for running multiple warehouses where textbooks for Classes 6-12 were being printed using low-quality paper and ink.

Police have urged consumers to buy only from trusted sellers, check packaging carefully and report suspiciously cheap products that appear too good to be true.