The customs agency for Russias Far East has in recent months intercepted substantial volumes of counterfeit motor oils imported from South Korea.
Russias Far Eastern Customs Administration announced last week the discovery that a company based in Yuzhno-Kurilsk, a settlement in the Kuril Islands, had been attempting to import fake Shell products. The agency confiscated Shell-branded barrels filled with 3,800 liters of motor oil imported from South Korea.
After a [Shell] official complained, we stopped the sale of the oils and initiated [charges] for unlawful use of the trademark, the agency said in an Oct. 16 news release. We are now estimating the value of the cargo.
Russian customs offices regularly detect illicit trade of motor oil products manufactured in Korea and imported to Russias Sakhalin Oblast, an area that encompasses Sakhalin Island. Its also a problem on the Kuril Islands – an archipelago that is under Russian jurisdiction, although Japan claims the four islands closest to its mainland.
This summer, the Far Eastern Customs Administration seized 1,700 liters of counterfeit oils transported in Shell-branded canisters, according to the release.