Lionel Messi Inter Miami counterfeit jerseys are flooding into Argentina, officials say, as one woman is caught smuggling 50 into Buenos Aires

Argentinean customs have warned about 'a deluge of irregular entries' of 'the newest must-have item' in illegal trade: Inter Miami jerseys with Lionel Messi's name and No. in what officials call a 'clear trend' after the seizure of 250 jerseys over the last week.

A case of an Argentine citizen flying into Buenos Aires' Jorge Newbury Airport on a LATAM flight from Santiago, Chile, was described as 'iconic' by The General Customs Bureau (Dirección General de Aduanas, DGA), according to The Buenos Aires Times.

Officers opened the woman's luggage to find 'a staggering 50 Inter Miami Messi jersey, all labelled and in their plastic wrapping' after she was asked by authorities if she had anything to declare.

She said that she wasn't in possession of any illegal goods, but the scanner proved otherwise.

Counterfeit specialists were then asked to check the authentication of the jerseys, though they ultimately concluded that they were fake, which makes them prohibited goods.

'It's allowed to bring clothing into the country within the so-called simplified regime, but the cases detected over the last week have a volume that leads us to assume that it is being entered for profit', shared Argentinean authorities to The BA Times.

Customs then disclosed that, since Messi's new club jersey is not yet officially for sale in Argentina and the counterfeits were similarly designed to the originals, the woman's intention was 'likely to sell them as authentic and profit unlawfully from the passion generated by the seven-time Ballon D'Or winner in his homeland'.

Officers also specified that the woman wasn't only trying to enter the jerseys illegally into the country, as 2,000 Pokémon cards, three tablets of an unknown substance, 100 packs of protein