Guangdong police have investigated 687 cases arising from the production and sale of counterfeit goods in violation of intellectual property rights since a special campaign was launched at the beginning of the year.

Investigators have cracked down on 497 counterfeit production bases and have detained 1,168 suspects so far, said Li Shanxiong, deputy director of the economic crimes investigation bureau under the Guangdong provincial department of public security.

“More than 21.21 million fake products valued at more than 1.35 billion yuan ($217 million) have been seized. The counterfeit products include food, cigarettes, wines, medicines, watches, cell phones, bags, garments, shoes, and computers,” Li told a news conference on Tuesday.

Despite progress made in fighting counterfeiting, police across the province will not lower their vigilance in the coming months, said Li.

Guangdong police will expand their co-operation with their foreign counterparts, Li said.

“The fake products also have a big market in Europe and other foreign countries and regions,” said Li.

“Therefore, many counterfeiters risk selling their counterfeit products, which were produced in Guangdong, to foreign destinations,” he said.

He admitted that fighting counterfeiting is a long-term and tough task for police in Guangdong, which borders the Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions.

“After years of efforts fighting counterfeiting, it has now become a more subtle, collective, family based chain that has created even more difficulties for police to investigate and crack,” Li said.

To this end, Li promised to further expand co-operation with counterparts in Hong Kong and Macao and other provinces, municipalities and regions in the mainland.

The campaign to fight counterfeiting will continue through the year, Li said.

On April 15, police in Shantou seized more than 150 million bottles of fake foreign brand perfume in a special operation that was launched in the port city.