HOWLAND - After an anonymous tip, police seized several hundred counterfeit designer purses, sunglasses and nearly $30,000 from a Laurelwood Drive home Thursday.
While there aren't yet any known links to a much larger bust in McKinley Heights last week, one woman is in jail on an immigration detainer and detectives continue to investigate their find.
"There's no direct link at this point between cases," Chief Paul Monroe said.
The department received a tip Thursday afternoon that a box truck had been backed in to a driveway at 543 Laurelwood Drive and people were carrying boxes into the garage, police report states.
When officers arrived, Qiao Ling Liu, 32, was unable to open the front door because of a key deadbolt locked from the inside. She instead let them through the garage door, where several boxes of Chanelle, Gucci, Coach, Fendi and Christian Dior purses were in plain sight, police said.
A search warrant was obtained, and about 500 purses, wallets and handbags, two boxes of counterfeit designer sunglasses, a firearm, a 2003 Acura sports utility vehicle and $30,000 in cash were confiscated from the home and the garage. Officers also also found records of merchandise transactions, police said.
Liu said her husband, Kong Hua Ni, 29, sells the items at flea markets. While Ni was not arrested when he arrived later in the day, Liu was taken to Trumbull County Jail on an immigration detainer and could be subject to deportation, depending on results from an investigation through Homeland Security, officers said.
No charges have been filed against either because it's not yet officially confirmed the items are counterfeit, police said. Detective Nick Roberts said an expert from one of the purse companies will inspect the items next week. If they are, charges of trademark counterfeiting could be filed.
Records show Liu owns the house, but officers said it is up for sale.
Last week, Weathersfield police found in a McKinley Heights warehouse thousands of counterfeit designer purses worth $15 million to $20 million. Wu Tao, 24, a Chinese national living in New York City, and John Lastik, 59, of Greensburg, Pa., were arrested on trademark counterfeiting charges.
