China uncovers luxury bag fakery, arrests 73

BEIJING - Chinese police, working with US law enforcers, uncovered a major transnational criminal case of manufacturing and exporting fake international brands and arrested 73 suspects.

The police has confiscated over 20,000 counterfeit bags branded as Louis Vuitton, Hermes or Coach, closed 37 illegal sites for the production and sale of such bags, and found that the suspects have manufactured and sold more than 960,000 such fake bags, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement Sunday.

The police also seized 17 sets of equipments for manufacturers and 91 bank cards and accounts used for receiving and transferring illegal gains, according to the statement.

Local police in south China's Guangdong Province found in January that a suspect surnamed Qian and some others were responsible for a huge production of fake brands and exports to foreign countries.

The ministry soon 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 from provinces such as Guangdong, Fujian and Anhui. 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 United States and the Middle East.

Before his arrest, Qian purchased a land with a size of over three hectares in Anhui for future illegal uses, the police statement said.