More than $10 million in counterfeit iPods, iPhones and other items have been seized from a sophisticated downtown warehouse operation in a theft case begun by Los Angeles Port Police.

“This was a well-funded operation, and the counterfeits looked very authentic,” said Ron Boyd, chief of the approximately 200-member L.A. Port Police force, adding that a buyer might not have noticed anything awry until he or she got home and tried to hook up with iTunes.

Investigators said they thought that the shipment was designed to get Apple Inc. lookalike products into the market during the recent buzz over the Consumer Electronics Show. Some of the products were designed to look like older Apple products, such as iPod Nanos without touch screens, which remain popular with some consumers.