Tonnes of fake England shirts seized ahead of World Cup

Four tonnes worth of goods were seized

Police have seized £500,000 worth of fake England football shirts ahead of the World Cup in Qatar.

Four tonnes' worth of the counterfeit goods were found in raids in Bristol, Leeds, Sheffield and Northampton.

Six people were arrested and £12,000 in cash was seized.

The raids were coordinated by government's Intellectual Property Office and City of London Police's Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU).

Detective Sergeant Matthew Hussey, of PIPCU, said: "We regularly see links between the counterfeit goods trade and organised criminal groups.

"Counterfeiting is one of the primary methods used by these groups to make money, and enables them to fund serious offences such as drugs trafficking and money laundering.

"We would always urge fans to think twice before buying fake merchandise, and will continue to work with our partners to take action against those who sell it."

The seized items are worth £500,000, police said

Searches of addresses in Bristol and Northampton yielded £250,000 of fake shirts.

A large quantity of counterfeit England shirts, FIFA World Cup badges and £2,000 in cash were found across four premises in Leeds.

In Sheffield, shirts were seized from a storage facility and £10,000 in cash was found at a residential property.

Marcus Evans, deputy director of Intelligence and Law Enforcement at the Intellectual Property Office, said: "Criminal networks are seeking to exploit (fans') loyalty for their own financial gain by targeting the market with illegal counterfeit products - with little or no regard for their quality or safety.

"We are pleased to support the intensified enforcement activity to clamp down on the sale of such illicit goods, working in partnership to help protect the public from this type of crime."

All those arrested have since been released under investigation.