The European Anti-Fraud Office, OLAF, has coordinated an operation that led to the seizure in Portugal of 14,629 counterfeit components for industrial vehicles, with a total value of more than €600,000. The operation, announced on 5 June 2026, targeted an illegal trade in spare parts passed off as products from well-known brands in the heavy industrial sector, but which were in fact manufactured unlawfully in Turkey.
Field investigations were carried out by the Portuguese Food and Economic Safety Authority, ASAE, which operated in the cities of Vila Nova de Gaia, Leiria and Lisbon. OLAF’s role was to provide analysis and intelligence to the national authority, coordinate work between the different EU countries involved and send its own investigators to support the physical inspections. Representatives of the vehicle manufacturers concerned were also present alongside European and Portuguese investigators to verify the authenticity of the seized parts.
The components uncovered included oil filters, fuel filters, air and cabin filters, bearings, valves, belt tensioners and brake cylinders. These parts perform important functions for the operational safety of trucks: a defective fuel filter or a non-compliant brake cylinder can compromise braking or the vehicle’s mechanical integrity. All the seized parts bore counterfeit trademarks of the original manufacturers and, according to OLAF, could easily have been mistaken for genuine products by commercial operators and end users.
