Nine suspects have reportedly been detained in China for selling fake stickers for brands including New Zealand kiwifruit marketer Zespri, news site Shanghai Daily reported.

Police seized more than two million stickers in recent raids in three districts around Shanghai, according to the story.

The investigation started in March when police received a complaint from an importer who said fruit was being mis-sold at inflated prices in a Pudong market.

Shanghai Daily said it understood that kiwifruit sold under the Zespri brand was in fact local produce.

Police found that vendors who sold the kiwifruit bought fake stickers from a stand run by a man surnamed Chen.

Chen, who is now in a detention center, reportedly said he bought the fake stickers from a printing company in February at 0.10 yaun (US$0.01) per sheet.

The story reported there were also false stickers for a range of other foreign and domestic fruit brands in Chen's inventory.

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