287 cartons of counterfeit Waswas brand soap imported to Lae was seized by the Lae Police and Panamax Pacific Limited management on the weekend.
The counterfeit Waswas soap was loaded onto a 20-foot container, ready to be delivered to Mt. Hagen, Western Highlands Province by a trucking company when it got intercepted by the Police.
The operation was headed by Lae Metropolitan CID Officer In Charge, Leo Kaikas who produced a search warrant to open and search the container. This was done at the Panamax yard in Lae on Friday, 17th March 2023.
Panamax Pacific Limited has been manufacturing Waswas soap for more than 20-years in Papua New Guinea. Waswas soap is a well-known and trusted brand to be found in most homes throughout the country.
According to Panamax Pacific Limited General Manager-Erich Illemann, it was brought to their attention that a significant counterfeit operation importing product impersonating the company’s Waswas brand was in progress.
“When I contacted PNG Customs in the morning, disappointingly, Customs have informed us it is beyond Customs control and beyond Customs jurisdiction. This is both ridiculous and an unacceptable response,” said Mr. Illemann.
Inside each of the 287 confiscated cartons contains 16 packs of 6-pack counterfeit Waswas soap worth K34,440 when sold in shops. This money is untaxed and directly impacts local manufacture and threatens local jobs.
Over the past few weeks, manufacturers in PNG are under extreme pressure from high costs and poor service delivery by the government. According to Panamax Pacific General Manager, Mr. Illeman, this additional threat compounds the situation threatening investment, manufacture and job creation in the country.
“Our industry (Soap Manufature) as well as many others is currently under pressure from Customs who have reclassified raw materials under different coding, changing previous duty-free status to one attracting duty, the same as for finished products,” said Mr. Illemann. “This undermines the case for local manufacture, which will reduce investment and subsequent employment with more reliance on imports compounding the Country’s Forex predicament,” added Illeman.
The dangers of buying counterfeit products aren’t always obvious. There are economic impacts, legal implications, and health and safety risks to individuals who buy and use the fake products.
Each time you buy a counterfeit good, a legitimate company like Panamax loses revenue. This translates to loss profits, loss of jobs over time and contributes to the bad state of economy.
Meanwhile, Lae Metropolitan Commander, Chief Superintendent Chris Kunyanban said investigations are currently underway by Lae CID Police.
Kunyanban said, “If people starts doing counterfeit, the Government should have a very strict instreangent Law protecting the interests of the business houses in the country. Because that’s a national security issue on the economic aspect of things.”Lae Metsup added that, Forrex is the primary issue affecting local manufactures such as Lae Biscuit and Panamax. Kunyanban said the secondary issue affecting the manufacturers are counterfeit products.
“Their products are not moving because the Chinese are actually circulating counterfeit goods. They cannot buy it from the local manufacturers. The government has to be very serious in protecting the economy of this country. If those people are involved in counterfeit and they are found, they have to be immediately fined, deported and blacklisted and they should not enter the country anymore.” More needs to be done by the government in order to allow legitimate businesses to thrive.
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