A shipping container from China with more than 10,000 pairs of knockoff Nikes inside was seized at the Los Angeles-Long Beach port complex, a U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson said Wednesday.
The 10,900 pairs of counterfeit Nikes were valued at nearly $400,000 but, if real, would have been worth about $1.8 million, according to Cristina Gamez of CBP.
The knockoffs were under a layer of used shoes in the top of the container, a move apparently designed to throw off inspectors, she said.
The container was selected for inspection because the lading papers did not specify what kind of shoes were inside, according to CPB.
In 2008, CPB and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement seized more than $272 million worth of counterfeit items nationwide.
