MASSIVE RAID ON NOTORIOUS PIRATED GOODS MARKET

UNCLAS LIMA 002362 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS COMMERCE PASS TO USPTO BMCCAFFREY, JMORALES & CBERDUT COMMERCE FOR 4331/MAC/WH/MCAMERON USTR FOR BHARMAN & MCARRILLO SAO PAULO FOR DMAZURKEVICH E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KIPR ETRD KCRM USTR PE SUBJECT: MASSIVE RAID ON NOTORIOUS PIRATED GOODS MARKET ¶1. (U) Before dawn on July 8, hundreds of Peruvian National Police (PNP) officers and Public Ministry prosecutors raided one of Peru's largest markets, El Hueco, notorious for selling pirated medicines, music and movies. They seized about 900 sacks (each the size of a large garbage bag) filled with a total of 40 tons of CDs, DVDs, medicines, clothing, and cell phones from the downtown Lima market. The seizure was the largest so far this year. Once the investigation is completed, all of the seized goods will be destroyed. ¶2. (U) Peruvian National Police (PNP) General Octavio Salazar, chief of the 7th Police Region, presented the seized goods to the press on July 9. He estimated the value of the medicines alone at 15 million soles (under $5 million). The fake and pirated medicines included supposed antibiotics, fever reducers, cough syrups, contraceptive pills, creams, and injectables. Their ingredients included ground chalk, colorings, contaminated water, and other substances. General Salazar said the seized items also included medicines stolen from the government's health insurance agency (EsSalud) and the Armed Forces, pharmaceuticals not approved by Peru's FDA equivalent, and expired medicines for which the expiration date had been altered. He said the traffickers of the fake and pirated medicines were not arrested in the raid, but that the police had the leads necessary to track them down. ¶3. (SBU) Pablo Seminario, the head of Peru's First Prosecutor's Office for Customs and Intellectual Property Crimes and one of the raid's masterminds, had informed us on July 4 that the raid would take place. He noted that raids on this market had been planned on several previous occasions, but that they were not carried out or failed because the vendors had been alerted beforehand. After the successful raid, Seminario told us that 60 prosecutors participated and that the element of surprise had been intact. Seminario, along with other prosecutors and police participating in the raid, has received USG-sponsored IPR enforcement training. STRUBLE