MEXICO CITY — Mexico has lengthy had an issue with piracy and model counterfeiting, however this week it reached a brand new peak: faux Coca-Cola. As with so many merchandise in Mexico, “the Actual Factor” will not be that in any respect.
Mexico Metropolis prosecutors stated late Wednesday that they had raided a property in a tough neighborhood on town’s east facet and located 1000’s of bottles bearing the Coca-Cola model.
A lot of the bottles had been empty, however some had been full of what prosecutors known as “supposed” cola. Investigators additionally discovered hoses, pumps, bottle washing services and new bottle caps, suggesting that criminals had been making their very own Coke.
In addition they discovered stolen supply vehicles, suggesting the gang had been distributing the drinks.
“Data got here to mild that this property was probably getting used to fabricate mushy drinks with related traits to a well-known cola model,” stated prosecution spokesperson Ulises Lara.
Lara stated brokers discovered crates containing about 780 full bottles, and nearly 20,000 empty bottles “able to be refilled.” It was not clear if any of the so-called “Mexican Coke,” prized for its cane sugar and glass bottles, had made it to the export market.
Mexico’s Coca-Cola FEMSA, which describes itself as “the most important Coca-Cola franchise bottler on the earth by gross sales quantity,” didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon the raid.
The raid comes much less that two weeks after the U.S. commerce consultant launched a damning report saying Mexico’s intellectual-property and anti-counterfeiting actions — already weak — have gotten weaker lately.
“The prevalence of counterfeit items at infamous bodily marketplaces stays a major downside, exacerbated by the involvement of transnational felony organizations,” in response to the report, launched April 26.
Mexican authorities used to raid such markets, however that sort of enforcement appears to have halted lately, the report stated. ”Legal investigations and prosecutions for trademark counterfeiting and copyright piracy seems to be non-existent,” the report stated.
For many years, Mexico has had an issue with counterfeiters falsifying the whole lot from name-brand blue denims and sneakers, to prescription drugs. U.S. authorities repeatedly challenge alerts about counterfeit tablets which can be cleverly disguised to seem like the actual factor.