A man has been arrested by police for selling fake mascots and commemorative coins for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing.   

According to the legal affairs department of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG), a man surnamed Fu, was discovered selling the fake goods at a market in the city's Haidian District.

"The five Fuwas, the mascots of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, were wrongly sequenced and they had no label or authentication certificate. The colors of the counterfeited commodities didn't  match those of the authentic products," said a department statement.

Police also found coins carrying the Beijing Olympic logo which weren't produced by the China Banknote Printing and Minting Corporation. They're the sole manufacturer entrusted by the BOCOG to produce the coins.

"The coins were produced without the permit of the BOCOG and manufactured in a rough way," said the department.

A spokesman from the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau Haidian District Branch said a local businessman surnamed Li told police on July 25 this year that he'd bought 57,000 yuan (more than US$7,200) of Olympic Games goods including commemorative coins and badges from Fu.

Based on Li's report police investigated Fu's stall and found that he was selling more than 20 types of commemorative coins and mascots from previous Olympic Games. The price of the products ranged from 200 yuan to 1,000 yuan. This is just 10 percent of authentic goods. 

Fu is the first person to be arrested for selling fake 2008 Olympic Games commodities in Beijing.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2006)