30-year old fake shampoo market busted in Peshawar, say police

PESHAWAR: Police told Arab News they have busted a 30-year-old illegal business network that used to make fake shampoos.
Station House Officer of the Hayatabad Police Station, Peshawar city, Abdullah Jalal told Arab News that the people arrested had been running the illegal business of making fake shampoos since the setting-up of the market in the 1990s.
“We have come to know that city areas in Peshawar also have such small factories making fake shampoos of known brands and we are now investigating to trace them as well,” Abdullah Jalal added.
On Friday, the district administration, along with Peshawar Police, sealed 17 factories making fake shampoos of famous brands and also arrested 12 people in raids in Karkhano Market.
Additional Deputy Commissioner Shahid Ali Khan told Arab News that around 70 drums of fake shampoo being packed for sales were also seized during the operation. He added that they also seized thousands of packed and empty bottles, stickers, the machinery used in packing and other items.
The operation was conducted by Additional Deputy Commissioner Shahid Ali Khan, area magistrate Sara Tawab, ASP Waqar Azeem and other officials of the district administration and the police. The factories had been preparing fake shampoos of famous brands including Pantene, Head & Shoulders, Life Buoy, Johnson’s Baby shampoo and others.
The official added that initially the factories used to sell their products in Karkhano Market and then also transport the products to city markets for sales.
Karkhano is one of the markets in Peshawar city, on the boundary with the Khyber tribal region. It has shot to prominence in the region for the sales of foreign goods smuggled from Afghanistan.
Karkhano is a is Pashto word meaning “industries” in English.
Assistant Superintendent of Police Waqar Azeem said that it was the district administration’s operation, supported by the police. He said the arrested people were being probed and that the owners of the plazas in the market have also been warned not to give spaces to people doing such illegal businesses.
“They had set up some factories in a deserted area outside the main Karkhano Market while some had been set up in basements of the plazas in the market,” he added.