Counterfeit UK CD ring smashed after raids on markets and car boot sales

June 30, 2003

In the United Kingdom a large counterfeit CD
ring has been raided. The police confiscated thousands of pirated CDs, 70.000
cigarettes and 17 kilo of tobacco. The swoop was performed by Shropshire
County Council, Customs and Excise, and investigators from trade associations
which regulate the music, film and computer games industries.

Bob
Charnley, deputy manager for Sandwell trading standards, said: "This was
obviously a large operation, evidenced by the discovery of a copying
factory. "We have no illusions about the impact this will have on the
number of copies on the market, but we have at least curtailed this
particular counterfeiter."

Councillor Darren Cooper, cabinet member for
social inclusion and health, said counterfeiters were putting jobs in the
UK at risk. "It is easy to view this sort of crime as victimless - it
isn't," he said. "Funds from such illegal operations are often associated
with other criminal activities and the seizure of the cigarettes
demonstrates this."

Also in the UK CD and DVD piracy is in hand of professional
pirates, who do not only sell CDs and DVDs but are also involved in other
criminal activities. Unfortunately the article does not mention how many people
are busted and the sentences they can face. Read the entire
article here.

Source: Expressandstar.com