Police have seized thousand of fake champagne bottles in a workshop near Padua, Northern Italy, with counterfeiters looking to pass off sparkling wine as Moet & Chandon.
Police found 9,200 bottles of prosecco and a machine used to make the metallic wrappers that cover the top of the bottles.
Eight people face charges but no one has been taken into custody, police said.
According to police, in addition to already-labelled bottles, which would have fetched about 350,000 euros ($380,000), further 40,000 labels were recovered which, if used, could have taken the illicit earnings to more than 1.8 million.
“The system was very detailed and specialised,” said Lieutenant Colonel Luca Lettere, noting that police were investigating whether the people involved had counterfeited other luxury goods.
“They chose champagne because it can be sold for such a high profit. Buying prosecco for one or two euros, they can put it on the market for 35 or 40 euros,” he said.
“We absolutely cannot rule out that other goods may be involved,” he added.
