Italian police bust Chinese imports in operation 'Toxic Shoes'

Italian police said Friday they had confiscated some 1.7 million counterfeit shoes made with leather containing illegal toxins, most of them from China. Operation "Toxic Shoes" began in May and 21 Chinese and seven Italians are now being prosecuted for selling counterfeit products and threatening public health, a police spokesman told AFP.
Shoes containing hexavalent chromium compounds which are illegal in Italy due to their high toxicity and potentially carcinogenic effect were seized in Tuscany, police said. A police unit responsible for financial crimes seized counterfeit imports which were mostly made in China but were labelled as "real leather" and "made in Italy", police said. More than 20 million euros (29 million dollars) of merchandise was seized in one of Tuscany's largest sweeps in recent years.