Police break dirty trade in fake Omo washing powder: bust has ‘global significance’

IT is one of the largest seizures of “white powder’’ made by NSW police, but it’s not drugs. This is Operation Omo.

IT is one of the largest seizures of “white powder’’ made by NSW police and has been described as being of “global significance”.

But the vast quantities of powder uncovered by the NSW Middle Eastern crime squad and Australian customs border protection last year had nothing to do with drugs.

Operation Omo resulted in one of the biggest hauls of counterfeit washing powder ever uncovered in the state.

Two western Sydney businessmen, Amer Douara and Sam Dario, were buying useless washing powder from China and pouring it into fake Omo containers before selling it to unsuspecting distributors at Sydney markets and shops as the real thing, leaving customers dirty.

Magistrate Jennifer Giles said the pair had “damaged the Omo brand in the pursuit of a quick buck”.

“Everyone will be standing at their washing lines saying ‘Omo is not what it used to be’,’’ she said.

During a hearing at Bankstown Court, where the men were accused of breaching trademark regulations, the court heard chemical analysis by the NSW police and by Unilever — the producers of Omo — revealed the powder was basically useless. “The enzymes which remove stains was missing,’’ said detective sergeant Kelvin O’Reilly from the Middle Eastern crime squad.

“Apart from not washing peoples’ clothes, the containers were also 9kg buckets which Omo do not produce.’’

Douara and Dario were fined $25,000 each on Friday for 45 counts of trademark breaches.

The court heard the pair lost $80,000 when authorities destroyed the containers of fake powder and spent $20,000 in legal costs.

Neither was present when the fines were handed down.

The police authorities were alerted to the operation by former Hong Kong policeman and trademark investigator Ken Taylor.

On July 25, armed with search warrants, police discovered the 9kg buckets labelled Omo on pallets inside two units at Chipping Norton.

In all, police took possession of 3396 tubs of fake washing powder, weighing an estimated 30,564kg.

Each tub was being sold for about $20 to scores of retail outlets in south-western Sydney. Police estimate the men made about $32,000 profit before being caught.

Sergeant O’Reilly said while some people played down the seriousness of the seizure, it was still a crime.

“I’ve heard all the jokes about laundering, whitewash and dirty money, but at the end of the day, these guys were ripping off the public for greedy purposes.’’

Investigators know the consignments originated from China and some were shipped to South Africa.

Unilever said counterfeit washing powder was a worldwide problem.