The Ministry of Interior’s Anti-Counterfeit Committee has raided two warehouses, confiscating 38 tonnes of counterfeit cosmetics.

The illegal products were stored in Phnom Penh’s Tuol Svay Prey and Olympic communes in Chamkarmon district, officials confirmed yesterday.

Representatives from the Phnom Penh Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Health, Camcontrol and the National Customs Office all participated in the raid on Friday, which was the largest in an ongoing crackdown on counterfeit cosmetics.

“After checking the products we concluded that they do not have a licence from the Ministry of Health, and that the sellers did not pay taxes on them,” the committee said in a statement released on its Facebook page.

One suspect was arrested on Friday, a 52-year-old Vietnamese national named Chin Sokha, who held a Cambodian identification card, said Toch Yuthyea, deputy secretary of the committee.

“He is the owner of these products, and he has been in this business for around seven years,” Yuthyea said. “He told us the items were imported from Vietnam, but we also saw Chinese, Japanese and Thai products.”

Among the stash were 80 types of personal-hygiene products and cosmetics, including shampoo and hair dye masquerading as brand name products like Sun Silk and Pantene, he continued.

The products will be sent to court and tested to verify whether they contain any harmful chemicals. The suspect will appear in court today.

Three other suspects were questioned but then released, Yuthyea said.

“I think those products were sold all across Cambodia,” he added. “I think he distributed them everywhere.”