Criminal Connoisseurs produced low-quality wine passed off as premium spirits to the unsuspecting.
By Gary Raynaldo – DIPLOMATIC TIMES
Criminals in Italy were selling fake Grand Cru red wine for as much as 15,000 euros a bottle until police stopped them. French, Italian and Swiss police dismantled a criminal network counterfeiting French Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) wines. “The fake wine was forged in Italy, then delivered to an Italian airport and exported for sale at market value all over the world by honest wine traders,” according to a statement Tuesday by Europol, which supported the investigation. Europol is the law enforcement agency of the European Union. The operation led to 6 arrests, 14 house searches and seizures of large quantities of wine from different counterfeited Grand Cru domains. Seizures included wine stickers and wax products, ingredients to refill wine, technical machines to recap bottles, luxurious goods, and electronic equipment valued at 1.4 million euros and more than 100 000 euros in cash and documents.
“The modus operandi of the criminal network, combined with the characteristics of the counterfeits, led investigators to establish a link with a previous investigation supported by Europol targeting the counterfeiting of PDO wine,” Europol said. “Forensic operations carried out on these high-value items revealed the techniques the criminal network used to counterfeit the high-quality French wine. Connections between the two investigations were also found while looking into the manufacturers of caps and capsules, and the label printers. This investigation, which had been closed in 2015, involved a Russian national who was also connected to this investigation. Further investigations uncovered commercial transactions carried out between Italy and Switzerland. Other bottles with similar signs of counterfeiting were subsequently discovered.”
Europol said it supported the investigation since 2021, coordinating operational activities, facilitating the exchange of information, and providing analytical support.
