Police personnel seize fake products from a supermarket in Patna. Telegraph picture

Check carefully before using that deodorant bought from a supermarket. They could be fakes. Gone are the days when fake cosmetics were sold only in small, murky, shops.

Now, even Patna’s supermarkets, frequented by upper middle class customers, are turning into dens of fake products. The police on Friday raided a popular megamart and seized a huge quantity of “fake” deodorants and soaps being passed off as Denim and Dove, manufactured by Hindustan Unilever.

Earlier, on April 26, cops and Hindustan Unilever representatives raided another supermarket on Boring Canal Road and seized fakes of popular cosmetics. On February 27 last year, a team led by former Patna city SP Shivdeep Lande, had raided a supermarket in the Bandar Bageecha area, on a tip-off by P&G representatives, and seized several products that were fakes of those manufactured by well-known brand Olay.

Patna SSP Manu Maharaj said this was a serious matter. “Where will customers in Patna go? Those selling these fakes knowingly are more dangerous than a gun-toting criminal. A person with a gun kills in a flash, but using fake items is hazardous and the damage shows up later and is long-term. This cannot be tolerated. The raids on shops selling fakes will go on. Seized products if found fake, strict action, even closure of shop, will be taken,” he told The Telegraph.