Customs officers on Wednesday said they have seized more than 60,000 sports items, including footballs, jerseys and footwear, during a three-week operation combating counterfeit goods.

The hauls, worth more than HK$50 million in total, led to the arrests of nine people.

Acting head of customs' intellectual property investigation bureau, Peggy Tam, said the market was flooded with merchandise in the run-up to international sports events such as the Paris Olympics, and criminals made use of this to push out their counterfeit goods.

Tam urged people to only buy products from shops with a good reputation, warning that counterfeit items sold online are often of poor quality.

Divisional commander So Kim-fai from the bureau said people buying sports jerseys should pay attention to various details.

"Firstly, the material used for counterfeit jerseys is not breathable. Secondly, some hang tags of counterfeit jerseys do not have a laser tag. Thirdly, the embroidery on counterfeit jerseys is cruder, with blurrier text. The embroidery on genuine jerseys is much clearer and more sophisticated," So said.

"Some genuine jerseys also feature special designs on, for example, the sleeves, that counterfeit jerseys don't have."