BEIJING - Authorities have confiscated 22,320 fake guns bound for Africa, the greatest amount seized so far this year, official data showed on Monday.

Quality and quarantine authorities in the city of Yiwu in East China's Zhejiang province discovered that 414 cases of plastic toys bound for Egypt were suspected to be guns, according to the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) on Monday.

The local public security department confirmed that it found 22,320 plastic machine guns and pistols in 84 cases, AQSIQ spokesman Chen Xitong said.

China's Law on the Control of Firearms stipulates it is illegal to manufacture and sell fake guns.