A man recently released from jail for running an international counterfeit business is believed to have fled the country owing hundreds of thousands of pounds.

Abdul Kadir Ozkok, 46, of Westward Road in Chingford, was jailed in August for 11 months after admitting using his home to import and sell more than 2,800 items of fake clothing items.

Days before his release from prison in January of this year, a proceeds of crime hearing ruled Ozkok must make representations to locate some of the £273,883 paid into bank accounts connected to the business.

In his absence on April 16, the judge issued a confiscation order to recover the money by October this year, or Ozkok would be jailed automatically for two-and-a-half years.  

However, Waltham Forest Council believes the 46 year-old has now fled to Turkey, his native country where his wife and children reside, and the key destination in his former counterfeit business.

In total, the businessman owes £248, 519 including £12,000 in prosecution costs.

Ozkok became the focus of an investigation after the council's trading standards team were passed information following a raid at London's New Covent Garden Market in October 2009.

He was suspected of being involved in a criminal enterprise linked to Turkey and in November 2009 his home was raided by council officers, police and members of the Intellectual Property Crime Unit.

More than 60 boxes containing 2, 818 items of counterfeit clothing bearing trademarks such as Adidas, Gucci, Burberry and Louis Vuitton, were seized in the raid on two garages at his Chingford home.

The 46-year-old was described by last year's sentencing judge as a "vital cog" in an illegal enterprise and a "trusted lieutenant", without whom the UK enterprise could not have functioned.