By IANS,
Beijing: Chinese police, working with US law enforcers, have arrested 73 suspects after uncovering a major transnational racket of manufacturing and exporting counterfeit designers bags of international brands.
Police confiscated over 20,000 fake bags branded as Louis Vuitton, Hermes or Coach, and closed 37 illegal sites where such bags were produced and sold, Xinhua reported citing the ministry of public security.
The suspects manufactured and sold more than 960,000 such fake bags, the ministry said.
Police also seized 17 sets of equipment for manufacturers and 91 bank cards of accounts used for receiving and transferring illegal gains.
In January, police in south China’s Guangdong province found that a suspect surnamed Qian and a few others were responsible for production of fake brands and exports to foreign countries.
The ministry exchanged the information with the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement and proposed a joint investigation.
Chinese police later found that the suspects were running illegal sites in Guangdong, Fujian and Anhui provinces. In May, Qian was arrested before he was about to export another batch of counterfeit goods.
Police investigation revealed that many fake goods were exported to the US and the Middle East.
Before his arrest, Qian had purchased land with a size of over three hectares in Anhui for future illegal uses, police said.