Police in the Moscow region have busted an illegal production center where more than 2,500 immigrants from Southeast Asia had been employed making clothes with fake labels of well-known foreign brands.
The sweatshop in the suburban town of Ivanteyevka was based at a former textile factory where the immigrants, who are thought to be in the country illegally, lived in unsanitary conditions, the Interior Ministry said on its website Thursday.
The clothes were made "in violation of the requirements for the safety of life and health of Russian consumers," and then sold throughout Moscow, the ministry said.
Police have confiscated 70 tons of counterfeit clothing made by 2,000 sewing machines at the factory.
By preliminary police estimates, the goods have caused rights holders for the labels damages of more than 20 million rubles ($605,000).
Investigators have opened a criminal case on charges of illegally using trademarks and have detained an unidentified Vietnamese national suspected of setting up the illegal business. He faces up to six years in prison if charged and convicted.
The police said Federal Migration Service officials were checking for violations of immigration law by the factory's workers.
Оrganizing illegal migration carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison.
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