(Yicai Global) Nov. 18 -- A joint operation between police forces in China and the United Arab Emirates has solved a case of cross-border production and sales of counterfeit goods worth CNY1.79 billion (USD255 million).

Nearly 100 Chinese law enforcement officers from Shanghai and Guangdong worked with their counterparts in Dubai, UAE, on cracking the case, Beijing News reported today.

Some 37 suspects were detained and more than 7,000 counterfeit items of clothing, bags and suitcases have been seized in China so far. The UAE police busted 10 groups, arrested 20 suspects and seized over 21,000 fake goods, the report said.

Dubai police had repeatedly taken action against a counterfeit goods gang but failed to break the criminal chain completely. Recently, they seized a counterfeiting warehouse in which they found the slogan and address of a Chinese firm called Guangzhou Small Camel on a customs declaration form.

Shanghai police conducted an investigation based on that, discovering a trading firm called Guangzhou Sikelu at the address of Guangzhou Small Camel. The police found that Hong Kong Small Camel Trading was the sole shareholder of Guangzhou Sikelu, while the Hong Kong firm's director Khalil was the registered owner of the warehouse seized by UAE police. The Hong Kong firm's general manager Mansour had made more than 80 visits to Guangzhou in recent years.

Further probing showed that prime suspects Mansour and Khalil organized local gangs in Dubai, who recruited brick-and-mortar store distributors to accept large-scale orders for various kinds of counterfeit Louis Vuitton, Hermes, and Chanel brand bags, suitcases, shoes and watches.

In China, the two suspects controlled Hong Kong Small Camel Trading and Guangzhou Sikelu. The companies, under the cover of foreign trade, recruited staff, including a person surnamed Lin, instructing them to buy knockoff goods based on overseas orders provided by Mansour.

According to Du Yan, deputy director at the Ministry of Public Security's Food and Drug Crime Investigation Bureau, this was a typical transnational intellectual property rights infringement case with a complete criminal chain and huge amounts of money involved. Judging from the effect of the crackdown, it was also a classic case of public security organs carrying out international law enforcement cooperation in the domain of IPR protection.