Big Fake Apple Bust in Anchorage

An example of a counterfeit Apple product that was seized. Photo courtesy of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Thousands of counterfeit Apple products were recently intercepted at the Anchorage airport.

A large shipment of fake Apple computer products was stopped at the Fed Express package handling facility at the Anchorage airport just before the Christmas holiday. Customs and Border Protection officers came across the counterfeit products as they were examining a shipment from China to destinations in the Lower 48.

“Customs and Border Protection officers opened some packages on a routine basis and discovered approximately $650,000 worth of counterfeit Apple cables and adapters,” Frank Falcon, spokesman for Customs and Border Protection in San Francisco, said.

Officers made the discovery on Dec. 22. A press release says the packaging was substandard. Falcon says this may be one of the largest such busts ever made in the U.S.

“I’m not aware of anything of that volume that has come into the country,” Falcon said. “I think that’s probably one of the largest that’s been intercepted.”

Falcon says the counterfeit Apple items will be destroyed and it’s unlikely the shipper will ever be identified.

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Daysha Eaton is a contributor with the Alaska Public Radio Network.

Daysha Eaton holds a B.A. from Evergreen State College, and a M.A. from the University of Southern California. Daysha got her start in radio at Seattle public radio stations, KPLU and KUOW. Before coming to KBBI, she was the News Director at KYUK in Bethel. She has also worked as the Southcentral Reporter for KSKA in Anchorage.

Daysha's work has appeared on NPR's "Morning Edition" and "All Things Considered", PRI's "The World" and "National Native News". She's happy to take assignments, and to get news tips, which are best sent via email.

Daysha became a journalist because she believes in the power of storytelling. Stories connect us and they help us make sense of our world. They shed light on injustice and they comfort us in troubled times. She got into public broadcasting because it seems to fulfill the intention of the 4th Estate and to most effectively apply the freedom of the press granted to us through the Constitution. She feels that public radio has a special way of moving people emotionally through sound, taking them to remote places, introducing them to people they would not otherwise meet and compelling them to think about issues they might ordinarily overlook.

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