Thai police have busted a fake Nestle instant coffee factory in Bangkok’s northern suburbs.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of police descended on a business premises in Pathum Thani on Thursday armed with a search warrant. Inside they found 2 million THB worth of fake Nestle instant coffee, (equivalent to about US$60,000 at retail value).

They discovered machinery including four mixing machines, four packaging machines and 19 sacks of mixed instant coffee awaiting packaging, falsely branded Nescafe 3-in-1.  More than 89,000 sachets of fake instant coffee destined for distribution were seized, along with 280,000 empty packs.

The factory was staffed by nine foreign migrant workers, including four Laos nationals.

Police are now trying to track down the man running the factory, believed to be from Chiang Rai.

Once caught he will be charged with producing and selling bogus food products and with producing and selling foods with unlicensed labels. The penalty, if convicted, is a prison term of up to 10 years and a fine of up to 100,000 baht ($3000).