SIX ARRESTS have been made at Phuket beaches as part of a continuing crackdown on counterfeit goods, according to officials.

The arrests involved store owners at Patong, Kata and Karon and the seizure of 298 items that included clothes, bags and shoes, all branded Louis Vuitton.

Somphong Onprasert of the Office of Commerce Phuket told Phuketwan ''Phuket is designated a red area, along with Samui, which means a lot of items that infringe copyright laws are on sale here.''

Khun Somphong said about 200 stores were selling fake goods of different kinds on the island, including watches.

A team of investigators from the Department of Intellectual Property is scheduled to visit Phuket twice a month from now on, Khun Sompong said.

Crackdowns in the past have usually preceded gatherings such as the Asean meeting in Huan Hin later this month, with business getting back to normal soon afterwards.

Many tourists who visit Thailand enjoy going home with cheap fake goods despite the breaches of copyright law.

Purchasers have so far been immune from prosecution but that could change. Khun Sompong said that in France and Italy now, people who bought fake goods could be prosecuted and jailed or heavily fined.

The Governor, Dr Preecha Ruangjan, joked that someone returning from a holiday could find themselves stripped of all their fake clothing at the airport.

The manugacturers of the fake goods are always harder to find than the retailers.