The Anti-Counterfeit Agency has impounded fake Samsung products worth Sh3 million following a raid in Nairobi.
The authority also arrested several people over the sale of the counterfeit products that included mobile phones and batteries.
The raid was carried out on the busy Tom Mboya Street on Tuesday by the authority and Samsung brand protection officers on Tuesday.
The anti-counterfeit agency said the devices are usually imported as Unitel or Calsen Mobile and rebranded as Samsung by retailers on arrival in the country.
“Some of the counterfeit goods confiscated this morning include Samsung phones with removable IMEI stickers, which is not the case with authentic Samsung smartphones,” the authority said.
The raid comes against the backdrop of a report released by the Anti-Counterfeit Agency in February which shows that nearly three-quarters of Kenyans use counterfeit goods.
Out of the 70 percent above, 19 percent purchase fake goods knowingly, 49.6 percent claim they bought the goods because they were cheap, 17.3 percent were looking for original items but couldn’t find them, and 18.3 percent were not aware of the risks.
The most counterfeited goods in the Kenyan market are mobile phones at 51.8 percent, alcohol at 30.8 percent, DVD players at 26.4 percent while bottled water is at 24 percent.
