BUFFALO - Federal authorities said they dismantled a criminal operation that smuggled hundreds of thousands of pairs of counterfeit Nike sneakers from China into the United States, where they were sold at fire-sale prices on street corners in several cities.

A four-count indictment returned by a grand jury in Buffalo charged 21 people in New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Rhode Island, Texas, Wisconsin and Illinois with conspiracy to traffic in counterfeit goods. Most of the suspects had been arrested by Wednesday afternoon, U.S. Attorney Terrance Flynn said.

In an investigation that began in April, authorities traced the path of fake Nikes sold in Niagara Falls back to a Chinese supplier and identified the operation's New York City-based importers and distributors. The sneakers arrived in New York in shipping containers.

“Typically ... manifests are falsified, goods are secured in a way that they can't be easily discovered or identified. They were mislabeled or imported illegally through some mechanism,” said Lev Kubiak, special agent-in-charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's investigations office in Buffalo.

The sneakers were sold in Buffalo, Niagara Falls and Rochester, New York, as well as Milwaukee; Chicago; Pittsburgh; Dallas; Pawtucket, R.I., and the state of Georgia, according to the indictment.