Two people have been charged in connection with what Toronto Police described as the “largest known” seizure of counterfeit soccer jerseys in Canadian history.Police said officers seized $3.5million worth of items from a warehouse in Mississauga on May 26, consisting of 16,000 jerseys and flags purporting to be branded, including fake Nike, Adidas, and Puma items. Two counterfeit FIFA World Cup trophies were also found.Ontario residents Ramy Jaber, 41, and Walid Sarhan, 62, were subsequently arrested and charged with fraud over $5,000 and possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000, police said in a statement Monday.They were also charged with “passing off wares or services with intent to deceive or defraud” and “sell, offer for sale, distributes on a commercial scale Goods Trademarks Act”.“With the FIFA World Cup less than two weeks away, the Toronto police service is proactively targeting crimes that tend to spike during major sporting events including the sale of fraudulent merchandise,” deputy chief Robert Johnson said in a press conference.“This was a large scale operation designed to exploit fans and take advantage of their love for sports. It is a reminder to fans to be vigilant — if a deal seems too good to be true, it likely is.”The investigation started after law firm Lipkus Law LLP made allegations to the Toronto Police Service FIFA Planning Team Investigative Unit that the Mississauga warehouse contained fraudulent merchandise and the accused men were “supplying products to retail stores and acting as a distributor of fraudulent merchandise”.The charges in Canada come two months after police in the UK completed its biggest raid as part of a pre-World Cup crackdown.The Athletic reported that the operation saw 4,433 counterfeit items removed from a stall in the Midlands, representing a loss to the legitimate kit market of £400,000 ($540,776). One man was arrested on suspicion of distributing counterfeit goods and taken into custody, and was released on bail pending further investigation.In 2025, the Premier League intercepted 230,000 products and removed 130,000 online listings globally which, it says, prevented the sale of £20m worth of counterfeit goods.The Athletic found that 78 per cent of subscribers surveyed last year had bought a fake shirt, 66 per cent intended to continue doing so and 89 per cent cited cost as the main motivating factor.Jun 1, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms