Fort Wayne, IN (WRTV/CNN) - A surprise sweep at a Fort Wayne, Indiana novelty store netted bags of counterfeit NFL gear days before the Super Bowl.
Operation Fake Sweep, led by federal agents and Homeland Security investigators, targeted the Off the Wall store at Glenbrook Square Mall.
Investigators said they removed over 400 pieces of unlicensed NFL-related merchandise from store shelves.
In Indianapolis, the city's contract with the NFL only allows authorized stores, not street vendors, to sell authentic merchandise.
Indiana-based Lids employs six thousand people in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico and counts on the government to stop the sale of the knockoffs to protect jobs and millions in investments.
A message left with Off the Wall was not returned Monday.
At last year's Super Bowl, counterfeit merchandise valued at a total of nearly $4 million was seized by federal authorities.
WRTV/CNN