Illegal sales found at flea market

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Police and federal agents bust vendors trying to sell illegal items at flea markets during educational sting.

Albuquerque Police, State Police and Homeland Security teamed up for what they called an educational run for flea market vendors Saturday morning. Their goal was to inform vendors on what they can and cannot sell at these functions.

However, when they showed up to the flea market on Old Coors Blvd in Albuquerque it seemed as if some of the vendors already knew some of the items they were selling were illegal.

"We just saw them packing up their boxes of videos in the white car," Velarde said.

Another guy was spotted shoving items in the bed of his truck. Detectives said they found out the stuff he was hiding was unused hygienic products.

Police said that is illegal. Velarde said vendors must have receipts to sell unused items to prove it wasn't stolen. He added that vendors are not allowed to sell hygienic products or medication at all.

Detectives then found another set of vendors trying to sell pirated movies. Some of the DVDs they were selling were movies that were still being shown at theaters.

The vendors police talked to can consider themselves lucky because detectives were only handing out warnings.

Velarde said police gave out 20 warnings at the South Valley and Expo New Mexico flea markets. He added that federal agents talked to six vendors.

Police told the vendors they would be back for another visit. If those, who were given warnings, are busted again the consequences will be serious.

"They could face citations and fines," Velarde said. "The bootleg counterfeit DVDs is a federal offense."