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Bradman's name exploited Australian police seize illegal internet merchandise
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) -- Australia's Federal Police on Tuesday reported it had seized a large quantity of allegedly illegal Sir Don Bradman memorabilia. The 26 cricket bats and 29 wall plaques, many incorporating unauthorized photographs and signatures of Australia's greatest ever cricketer, had been advertised and sold over the internet. Australian Federal Police spokesman Keith Livingston said the recovery of the merchandise was part of an ongoing operation sparked following the arrest last September of a Canberra man suspected of producing unlicensed memorabilia. "Nobody has been charged. We are still conducting the inquiry -- the items were recovered from various locations around Australia," Livingston told The Associated Press. An Australian Federal Police spokesman said a person was being questioned about obtaining signatures from Bradman by mail and using them in an unauthorized way. According to a release by Australia's federal Customs and Justice Minister, Senator Amanda Vanstone, the 92-year-old Bradman had been the target of a con. "Sir Donald has to be Australia's greatest sporting icon, so this has to be the greatest rip-off," she told reporters at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Bradman and the Bradman Foundation, a charitable organization, have recently started Federal Court action against six companies over the use of the Bradman name.
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