Chinese police have seized more than 20 million yuan (three million US dollars) worth of counterfeit cosmetics that were to be sold under popular high-end brand names such as La Mer, JO MALONE, SK-II, CK and fresh.

A total of 10 suspects have been arrested in Xiamen City, in east China's Fujian Province on Wednesday, with four of them charged for their roles in making and selling the knockoffs, local news agency Yangtze News reported citing police.

All the over 4,000 fake branded products were going to be sold via online stores on Alibaba. 

The manufacturer of the fake goods told police raw materials would be mixed by workers and packaged in bottles with their bare hands. A La Mer skin care kit, which cost no more than 100 yuan to make, could fetch a price of several thousand online. 

The syndicate was first brought to the attention of authorities last October, when anti-counterfeiting staff at Alibaba filed a report with the police.

Last December, the US placed China's e-commerce powerhouse Alibaba under the "counterfeit goods watch list." This has pushed the firm to crack down on fake goods sold through its platform.

In 2016 alone, in cooperation with Chinese police and product quality watchdogs, 1,400 fake goods sellers were busted, with the value of products seized estimated at three billion yuan (435 billion US dollars).