Three people have been arrested for selling more than 4 million yuan ($653,014) worth of counterfeit Nike brand athletic shoes, primarily to foreigners over the Internet, Yangpu district police said Monday.

One of the suspects, surnamed Zhan, ran two English shopping websites that targeted foreign customers in China and abroad, according to a press release from the Yangpu District Public Security Bureau.

Zhan hired two English-speaking salespeople to answer calls from foreign customers, said a Yangpu police press officer surnamed Tang. Some foreign tourists bought the shoes as gifts for their friends back home.

Zhan originally sold the shoes to domestic buyers, but shifted to foreigners after local authorities stepped up enforcement in the domestic market, according to the press release.

Along with the latest styles, Zhan's websites also sold knockoffs of classic Nikes, including its Air Jordan brand, which attracted many shoe collectors.

A factory in Fujian Province produced the shoes, which were high-quality counterfeits that were very similar to genuine Nikes, Tang told the Global Times.

The shoes cost no more than 200 yuan a pair to make, but Zhan sold them for about 1,000 yuan, only 50 yuan to 60 yuan below the retail prices of genuine Nikes, police said.

Zhan admitted that he told potential customers the shoes were produced by the same factories that made authentic Nikes.

Police began investigating Zhan after his neighbors in a residential compound on Guoxiu Road reported that someone was selling counterfeit brand shoes out of one of the buildings. Zhan had rented the first floor of a building to use as a warehouse. Trucks delivered shipments each week, and express couriers came each day to pick up packages bound for overseas.