TRADING standards officers seized more than 1,000 pairs of fake designer jeans in a raid on a Blackburn factory.

Officers swooped on the Randal Street building after receiving a tip-off and found thousands of pounds worth of items they believe are counterfeit.

They loaded a lorry with boxes and bags full of clothing.

One man was arrested and has been released on police bail for six weeks.

Officers were still cataloguing their haul yesterday but assistant chief trading standards officer David Roderick said a "significant" amount of items had been found. Three sewing machines were also seized.

He said: "They think they have got around 1,000 pairs of fake Levi's and there were enough labels, buttons and so on to make up another 500 to 600 pairs. They also found other designer labels including Armani, Yves St Laurent, Versace and Dolce e Gabbana."

Genuine Levi's jeans cost more than £50 a pair. The fake ones were most likely to be sold on market stalls for much less.

Mr Roderick said the manufacturer would probably have had a buyer for the items lined up. He said: "Once the labels are on, they are usually immediately taken somewhere else to be given to people to sell them on markets."

No-one was available for comment at the Randal Street premises.

Mr Roderick said there was a problem with counterfeit goods in East Lancashire and in particular Blackburn. Trading standards were cracking down on the illegal multi-million pound trade.

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