HEFEI, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Police in east China's Anhui Province have destroyed 500,000 pairs of fake sneakers with a market price of 600 million yuan (87.5 million U.S. dollars).

In December 2015, police in the city of Bengbu received a tip-off claiming counterfeit Converse sold in some Middle East countries were produced in the city. The local police set up a task team to look into the case.

After a month of investigation, they found that the factory, covering a land of over 200 hectares, was in a suburban county. Several hundred shoemakers worked on nine production lines every day.

On Dec. 26, 2016, more than 200 police officials launched an operation, during which they arrested four suspects, destroyed the production lines and seized 500,000 pairs of counterfeit Converse and Vans, as well as more than 60 million fake brand labels and packing boxes.

Another seven suspects were arrested, and five factories destroyed in following raids in the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian and Zhejiang. More than 40,000 pairs of sneakers about to be shipped to the Middle East were seized at Guangdong customs.

The police said all the counterfeit sneakers have been thoroughly destroyed.