Police have seized thousands of suspected counterfeit items after conducting a series of raids at stores and kiosks inside Markham’s Pacific Mall, as well as a search of a Markham residence.

The items seized included clothing, handbags and cell phone accessories.

Const. Laura Nicolle said the raids were a part of a “very lengthy investigation” that started in April. She said York Regional Police received numerous calls from area residents concerned about the mall.

“We heard from community members who were aware of this activity or had some concerns about it. We also heard from manufacturers, people who produce legitimate goods that had some concerns about what was going on here,” she told CTV News Toronto.

Nicolle said seven search warrants in total have been executed at the mall. The home of a kiosk owner was also searched by officers. Police said they seized more suspected counterfeit merchandise from the residence in addition to a quantity of cash.

Video from a CTV News Toronto reporter inside the mall shows uniformed officers inside stores inspecting items. In some cases, plainclothes officers can be seen boxing up goods.

In a news release issued Wednesday afternoon, police said the items seized will now “be examined by various manufacturers to ascertain if they are genuine or counterfeit.”

No charges have been laid, but police say the investigation is ongoing. More search warrants are expected to be executed at storage facilities related to the kiosks searched by police.

Back in January, the U.S. Office of the Trade Representative named the shopping mall as among the world’s most notorious sources of imitation and counterfeit goods.

The annual report included 19 brick-and-mortar locations and 25 online retailers. Pacific Mall was the only Canadian market included on the list.

The report listed sunglasses, cosmetics and fragrances as some of the fake products being sold at the Steeles Avenue East mall.

Mall management responded to the report about a month later, saying it was “disappointed” in the findings but vowed to take steps to stop the illegal sales.

At the time, Pacific Mall said it would issue written warnings to operators and owners believed to be involved in such business and would “commission a private investigator to conduct internal audits for imitation goods.”

It’s not clear whether those measures were implemented.

The report also detailed dangers associated with fake products, noting that some may “pose a risk to public health and safety.”

Lawyer Lorne Lipkus, who is representing several of the brands that facilitated the investigation, echoed those concerns.

“Some of these products have toxic chemicals that are being used to make them,” he told CP24 from the mall on Wednesday. “Some of them are made in factories where forced labour is being employed. There is no good that can come from buying counterfeit products.”

Lipkus said investigators attended numerous stores in the mall to “locate and identify counterfeit product” and later provided the information to York Regional Police.

He suggested all of the stores were aware of the ongoing investigation long before the raids began.

“Over the years we have served cease and desist documents on every single one of the businesses that has been targeted today. They’ve been warned by lawyers and investigators that what they’re doing is illegal,” he said.

“They were asked to deliver up the products – many of them refused, many of them refused to allow searches and every one of them refused to stop.”

In a news release issued on Wednesday evening, Pacific Mall said the affected units represent “less than one per cent” of the shopping centre.

“As we monitor this situation closely, we will continue to adopt various practices that will help discourage such behaviour from recurring in the future,” the news release said. “We are grateful for the assistance of the York Regional Police as we endeavor to maintain the public’s confidence in Pacific Mall as a venue where consumers and families can find a wide array of quality products at a great value.”

The RCMP and York Regional Police previously reported that millions of dollars of counterfeit goods have been seized from the mall over the past two decades.