Suspended jail sentence for Birmingham retailer

A Birmingham retailer has been given a suspended prison sentence for his role in importing counterfeit luxury watches and sunglasses.

Harpreet Singh Chawla, 46, and his company, Sathi (UK), which traded from Great Hampton Street, Hockley, admitted five offences at Birmingham Crown Court.

Fake Tag Heuer, Christian Dior, Chanel and Louis Vuitton products were among items seized on four separate occasions.

Chawla was sentenced to six months’ jail, suspended for a year, and ordered to pay £25,000 under the Proceeds of Crime Act. This must be paid in three months or he faces eight months’ imprisonment. The company was fined £8,000.

Birmingham Trading Standards officers raided the shop in March 2015 and seized counterfeit goods, including headphones, alongside a number of unsafe power adaptors.

Previously 100 watch parts branded as Tag Heuer were intercepted at Coventry International Airport in November 2012.

A consignment of 33 watches carrying Gucci branding was intercepted at Heathrow Airport in May 2013, destined for Sathi (UK) Limited, and two months later a container arrived at Southampton port, addressed to the same company and containing various counterfeit items. These included sunglasses, cigarette lighters, watches and pictures.