Police in the northern city of Taiyuan in Shanxi province raided an underground workshop and seized the fake uniforms, including trousers, hats, belts and badges, the official Xinhua news agency said.

The man running the workshop and his wife confessed to their crime after being detained by police, it added.

The report did not say who had bought the fake uniforms, nor what they had been used for.

Western firms and politicians have complained for years that China has not fought hard enough against a huge black market of counterfeit DVDs, music discs, software, sporting goods and clothing.

The issue has proved a major irritant in Sino-US and Sino-EU relations.

But Chinese consumers are also being hurt by fake products, with a series of scandals involving everything from car parts to eggs.

Separately, police in southwestern Sichuan province arrested three people who bilked 92 million yuan (S$19.4 million) from more than 1,600 people in a potato starch production scam.

The three set up a company promising returns of more than 23 per cent, telling investors the firm had great promise in the starch production sector, Xinhua news agency said.

But virtually all the money went into the bank accounts of the three who had set up the fraudulent company, it added.

Earlier this year China executed the leader of a bogus scheme for breeding ants to make aphrodisiacs that conned investors out of 3 billion yuan. One investor committed suicide after realising he had been duped, state media said. -- REUTERS