SOUTH BEND — Police found more than 2,000 pairs of Nike knockoffs at two South Bend stores on Tuesday. Detectives are calling it one of the biggest counterfeit busts they've ever seen.

Police say this counterfeit shoe operation was so big it got the attention of the Nike Corporation itself.

The owner of one of those stores, 35-year-old Sharif Saleh, is under arrest for receiving stolen property.

Tuesday morning at South Bend's Howard Street Food Mart, the only business was coming from police, and they weren't buying what the owner had to sell.

"We believe it's about 1,960 pairs of Nike counterfeit shoes,” said Sgt. William Redman of the St. Joseph County Police.

Nearly 2,000 Nike knock-offs — enough to fill a small trailer and an entire moving truck.

"We've had a lot of information at multiple different locations here in the South Bend area that they were possibly selling these counterfeit Nikes,” Redman said.

The tips led police and the security company working for Nike to perform several undercover buys.

Last fall, police say Nike warned the stores to stop.

"And apparently they didn't take their warning,” Redman said.

So for two hours Tuesday, officers loaded box after box, and not just on Howard Street. They also served a search warrant at Shoes ‘n’ More on Western Avenue, suspected of having nearly 1,000 counterfeit shoes and shirts, too.

"Everybody comes here,” said one neighbor of the Howard Street Food Mart.

Neighbors were surprised to find their corner store closed, but not necessarily surprised after hearing what happened.

"I've heard something about that,” said neighbor Ieisha Alsamman. “I don't know where he gets them or how he gets them but yeah I've heard that. I mean I see them when I'm in there but I didn't think anything of it.”

"The detectives here that were involved in this search warrant have been active and have been involved in law enforcement for a long time and this, for them, has been one of the biggest busts that they've ever had,” Redman said.

Police say the owner of the Howard Street Food Mart is under arrest for possession of stolen and counterfeit property.

So far, they have only questioned the owner of the store on Western Avenue.

The security company hired by Nike to find these counterfeit operations says Tuesday's bust was one of the biggest they've seen in the three years they've been doing this.

The FBI says buying and selling counterfeit goods costs legitimate American businesses more than $200 billion a year.