£1.5m of illegal goods seized in Newcastle (Image: Newcastle City Council)

A haul of fake goods worth more than £1.5 million have been seized before they flooded Newcastle Christmas market. The items, which included Chanel, Bvlgari and Vivienne Westwood jewellery, was found at a self-storage premises in the city.

Trading Standards Officers visited on Monday after receiving a tip-off from Border Force. They found hundreds of containers filled with illegal merchandise far exceeding anything they had seen before. Further lorry loads of items were also arriving at the premises.

They believe the containers were acting as an illegal "fulfilment house" – a kind of stock warehouse filled with merchandise from China. Foot soldiers would then be sent to the house to collect goods labelled wit

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