U.S. customs authorities have seized more than 135,000 fake Nike sports shoes that a major smuggling ring tried to import into the United States from China, officials said. The Homeland Security and Justice Departments said in a statement that they had broken up “one of the largest counterfeit merchandise smuggling schemes uncovered in recent U.S. history,” and charged six people in connection with the case. The six defendants are accused to trying to illegally import the fake Nike basketball shoes in 15 cargo containers between May and July. The shoes have a retail value of more than $16 million. Three of the suspects are from China, two are from the United States, and one is from Mexico. They were indicted by a federal court in Arizona last month and accused of conspiring to traffic in counterfeit goods, which carries a sentence of up to five years in prison.
