American sports goods manufacturer Nike had solicited the American embassy’s intervention in helping stop mass imports of fake name brands coming onto southeastern European markets through Croatia.

Representatives of Nike, Reebok, Hugo Boss and other well-known manufacturers had complained about the porosity of Rijeka Port to fake products, a 2008 American embassy report published on whistle-blower website WikiLeaks reveals.

The report says that managers of Nike have warned American authorities about large quantities of fake tennis shoes coming through Croatia. "Croatia often says that Rijeka’s port is three days closer to Asia and the Middle East than Rotterdam, and that was noted by smugglers of fake brands," the American embassy report states.

Head of Criminal Police Department Vitomir Bijelic said that they were aware of the increase in imports of fake products since the opening of Brajdice terminal and that they were collaborating with others to curb the damages.

The merchandise comes most often from Chinese ports of Shanghai, Xiamen and Hong Kong and is destined primarily for Serbian and Bosnian markets, namely in Brcko and Belgrade. The biggest market is in Serbia, where there is currently the first Chinatown in the region, numbering 300 businesses.

Nike admits, however, that seizures of imitations are only "quasi-legal" since it takes a long time to register brand names in Croatia. Bijelic says that they warned the companies of the importance of opening representative offices in the country, because customs officials often cannot tell whether something is real or fake. Original products can be identified only by authorised experts from the company that makes them.

Nike and Reebok have since opened representative offices in Croatia.

Croatia, however, has managed to successfully cut down on the traffic of illegal goods at one point measured in millions of Euros, daily Jutarnji List writes.