Three men allegedly involved in operating a $10 million counterfeit luxury goods operation, while some were receiving Centrelink benefits, are questioning the reason behind their imprisonment.

Officers seized nine cars including several Lamborghinis and a Mercedes AMG worth a combined value of about $3 million in the busts.

The trio appeared at Parramatta Local Court on Thursday, when they applied for bail.

Despite facing several charges, such as handling the proceeds of crime, their lawyer argues that the police have yet to identify a specific crime that was committed.

“The question is what is the relevant offence,” said barrister Philip Strickland SC, representing Skaf and Kase Siddiqi.

He mentions that merely importing and selling products is not illegal, and a prison sentence would likely not be imposed if the only offense was violating trademark laws.

Jawade Siddiqi’s barrister Steven Boland argued the case was unlike other alleged offenders charged with earning money from activities such as drug trafficking.

There was “nothing surreptitious” about what the 33-year-old had done and there had been no concealment of any business activity, he said.

Outside court, Jawade Siddiqi’s solicitor Chaddy Mardini declined to comment on the matter apart from saying it was “not a garden-variety” case.

Police prosecutors pressed for the trio to remain behind bars, pointing to a strong case that involved large amounts of funds being transferred into the personal bank accounts of the three men.

There was a risk the men would not appear in court and could flee the country as they had access to sizeable sums of money, magistrate Emma Manea was told.

While police said the scheme netted about $9.75 million in profits, the figure came from bank records stretching back to 2017.

Court documents said the alleged offences only took place from 2022.

Manea will hand down her bail decision on Friday.

Organised Crime Squad commander Detective Superintendent Peter Faux revealed earlier on Thursday that a delivery van “full of fake goods” pulled up as police were executing a search warrant in the case.

Officers confiscated a cache of more than 500 counterfeit luxury items, such as handbags, sneakers and watches all imported from China, across three sites.

More than $250,000 in cash and a gel blaster firearm were also seized.

“These three premises looked like a department store when you went inside of them, with all the goods that were set up,” Faux said.

“It was a very professional outfit.”

Fake watches of “extremely good quality” that resembled genuine articles worth more than $20,000 were sold to customers for $800 apiece, police said.

Police allege more than one of the trio was receiving Centrelink payments while benefiting from the proceeds of their crimes.

“They’re living an extremely luxurious lifestyle, they’re flaunting that lifestyle, they’re driving up and down their streets in cars worth in excess of a million [dollars],” Faux said.

The allegedly tainted assets were now under the control of the NSW Crime Commission, its executive director said.