Twenty-one men and 10 women, aged 17 to 76, have been arrested in a Customs operation to crack down on illicit photocopying services.

Acting on complaint from a copyright owner, Customs officers raided 38 photocopying shops in North Point, Wan Chai, Kwai Chung, Tsuen Wan and Tai Po in a two-day Hong Kong-wide operation on Monday and Tuesday.

They seized 682 photocopied books, 47 photocopying machines and 11 binding machines from 22 shops, altogether worth about $2.1 million.

Those arrested were suspected to be involved in photocopying books for customers without the consent or authorisation of the copyright owners.