BANGALORE: The sleuths of the Fraud and Misappropriation squad of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) arrested a 19-year-old fraudster, Krishna, who was in possession of fake watches under the names of international brands, worth `8.5 lakh. With his arrest, fake watch manufacturing mafia in the city has come to light. Although, initially, it used to be an underground business, now it no longer seems a shady trade. Making a shocking revelation, sources said that the fake watch mafia in the city is worth `1,000 crore. When Express enquired about the prominent fake watch sellers in Gandhinagar, Upparpet and Chickpet - they pointed at Chickpet, where an old and battered building holds a lot of secrets about the grey market operations in the whole of South India. Ask them where one gets best watches, they say, talk to ‘che ungli’ (six fingers). After a little more probe, ‘che ungli’s’ aide spills beans. “We make all kinds of watches and this is the only place from where branded watches are sent to different states. We have HMT, Rado, Titan, Fastrack, Rolex, Tommy Hilfiger, Tissot, Tag Heuer, Cartier and Montblanc,” said the source. Further, these fake watch manufacturers not only sell watches on demand, but also get bulk orders for weddings, family functions, festivals and birthday parties. “We have regular clients and they buy almost 400-500 watches from us. They sell it in their showrooms and we get a commission,” the source revealed.While an original international branded watch would cost anywhere between Rs 20,000 and Rs 15,00,000 depending on the model, at this building you can get the same product for Rs 2,000 to Rs 7,500. When these manufacturers sell the watches to showrooms, they get a commission of 25 per cent. On the first floor of the building, they have all other spare parts. The source said that they have a workshop at BVK Iyengar Road, where they have Japanese machines that help in placement of small spare parts in the watches. Meanwhile, officials from CCB said they have information about connections that the mafia has in other parts of South India, where they supply fake watches.
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