Fake Nike trainers manufacturer busted in China
Workshop bosses and gang selling thousands of pairs of the shoes caught by police in Fujian province, according to newspaper report
Police in eastern China have cracked down on a ring they say mass produced and sold fake Nike training shoes online worth millions of yuan, mainland media reports.
Dozens of workers were detained in a police raid as they tried to move fake sports shoes away from a warehouse in Xiamen in Fujian province at the end of last month, the Southeast Express reported.
Police found over 200 pairs of sports shoes in two minivans and at least another 1,000 pairs in the warehouse, the report said.
Two suspects alleged to be the masterminds of the operation are still at large, according to police.
One of the workers told police that the fakes made in Putian in Fujian were sold for over 500 yuan (HK$590) on three online stores.
Among the fakes were copies of Nike Air Max. Real pairs can cost between 559 yuan and 1,999 yuan in Nike stores in China.
Records showed that over 20,000 pairs of the fake brand shoes were sold last year from the three stores, police were quoted as saying.
Xiamen police were tipped off by their counterparts in Putian, who hours earlier raided a workshop in a village where the fake shoes were manufactured.
The couple who owned the workshop told local police they sold the fake shoes for about 100 yuan to the Xiamen company, although they cost only dozens of yuan to make, the report said.
The joint police operation is a part of crackdown in Putian targeting the rampant production of counterfeit brand name shoes.
Police said they have cracked down on at least 10 manufacturers in the city since early this year.