CHENNAI: The Intellectual Property Rights Enforcement Cell (IPREC) unit of the Tamil Nadu police seized fake paints and fake machine bearings in separate cases, and arrested five persons for manufacturing and selling fake products under the names of leading brands.

The Madurai IPREC unit received an input about the manufacturing and selling of fake bearings labelled as products from market leaders like HCH and NBC. After a raid in Madurai outskirts on June 1, police seized fake products worth Rs 58,143 and arrested Ramesh Gupta and Ankit Gupta from West Bengal, who were manufacturing fake bearings, labels, and covers of the companies, and sold them as genuine products.

In another seizure on June 2, the Chennai IPREC unit raided a unit in Iyyappanthangal, Thandalam, after they got a tipoff about the manufacture and sale of fake paints under the name of Asian Paints.

During the raids, it was found that the unit was run by Palpandi, Arokiasamy and Saravanan, all from Iyyappanthangal. During the inquiry, it was found that the three bought cheap fake paints and sold them in buckets bearing the name of Asian Paints.

Police arrested the three and seized fake products worth Rs 1.73 lakh from them.