Police are encouraging football fans not to buy the fake shirts (Picture: PA)
Police have seized £500,000 worth of fake England shirts ahead of the start of the World Cup.
A series of raids were carried out across the country which resulted in six arrests and £12,000 in cash being discovered.
Knock-off kits, Fifa World Cup badges and £2,000 worth of cash were found at and address in Leeds.
In Sheffield, officers found fakes in a storage facility and £10,000 worth of cash at a home.
Further raids were carried out in Bristol and Northampton days before the tournament gets under way.
Detective sergeant Matthew Hussey, from City of London Police, say they ‘regularly see’ connections between counterfeit goods trade and organised criminal groups.
He urged football fans to ‘think twice’ before buying fake merchandise.
Marcus Evans, from the Intellectual Property Office, said criminal gangs are seeking to exploit football fans’ support for their favourite teams.
The shirts were recovered from cities including Leeds, Sheffield, Bristol and Northampton (Picture: PA)
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Detectives say the haul would have been worth half a million quid on the black market (Picture: PA)
‘As football fans get ready to support their favourite team at the World Cup, criminal networks are seeking to exploit their loyalty for their own financial gain by targeting the market with illegal counterfeit products – with little or no regard for their quality or safety,’ he said.
‘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.’
Police added that those arrested have since been released under investigation.
The tournament is set to kick off tomorrow in Qatar but it has been overshadowed by controversies over the country’s human rights record, anti-LGBT+ stance and stadium ban on alcohol.
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Raids were carried out across the country which resulted in six arrests and £12,000 in cash being seized.
