Five Chinese nationals in Canada on student visas have been charged in a massive counterfeit ring that was producing fake passports, college and university diplomas and a number of government documents.

York region police say the sophisticated operation is one of the largest of its kind in Ontario history.

The group running the scheme also had a website that listed prices for the documents. The most expensive, an immigration-by-marriage application, was selling for $18,000.

Investigators said some of the "hundreds, if not thousands" of fraudulent documents are near flawless.

"If you're a trained person and you examined it, you'd be able to tell the difference ... but if you're not a trained person and you just glanced at it for a short period of time, it would pass," Det. Fred Kerr said at a press conference.

"In my 30 years on the job, I've never seen forged university degrees or mark transcripts -- they even did high school diplomas."

The documents were seized from a home in Markham last week. Police said immigration papers and driver's licences were among the items found. Printers and other machinery were also confiscated.

Police Chief Armand La Barge was shocked by the find.

"What I think is even more disturbing is that there's a criminal market for these types of fraudulent documents," he said.

Police said the group catered mainly to Chinese clientele who wanted to come to Canada or stay in the country.

Among the degrees found so far, none has been for legal or medical practices.

Officers stumbled upon the counterfeit ring while investigating a number of vehicle break-ins along the Kennedy Road and Steeles Avenue area.

Plainclothes detectives saw the occupants of two vehicles acting suspiciously, and further investigation led them to a home on Eastpine Drive and the "large-scale document factory."

Facing numerous fraud-related charges are:

  • Ruiqiong Zhong, 26, of Markham;
  • Yan Shen, 25, of Markham;
  • Jie Xu, 23, of Markham;
  • Zhaoyang Wang, 23, of Scarborough; and
  • Yuanxia Zhu, 23, of Vaughan.

The federal and Ontario governments said they are reviewing procedures to see if changes need to be made.

With a report from CTV's Roger Petersen