Illegal DVD peddling pirates given heave-ho from UK streets

October 8, 2006

What's a
pirate to do? It seems that police, responding to complaints from the public and
also store owners, have been staking out St Anns shopping mall. The
result being the banishment of scalawags from the sidewalks and dark corners of
the business section, that were openly peddling counterfeit DVDs. The cleanup
task was facilitated through use of so-called ASBOs.

Not being from the UK, I had no idea what this ASBO
was, but Wikipedia came to the rescue!

"In the United Kingdom an Anti-Social Behaviour
Order (ASBO, pronounced az-bo) is a civil order made against a person who has
been shown to have engaged in conduct which caused or was likely to cause alarm,
harassment or distress to one or more persons not of the same household as him
or herself and where an ASBO is necessary to protect relevant persons from
further anti-social acts by the Defendant.[1] In England and Wales they are
issued by Magistrates' Courts, and in Scotland by the Sheriff Courts. It was
introduced by the Crime and Disorder Act 1998.

A CRASBO is a "Criminally
Related" ASBO."

Weng Yong Fei, 30, of Wembley Park, Wu Chun Zheng, 29,
of Harrow and He Bin, 35, of Headstone Gardens, Harrow, were caught out by
the Trading Standards Service working alongside the police and the
Federation Against Copyright Theft.

The chinese men were three of 20 illegal traders seen
selling pirate DVDs and porn outside St Ann's shopping
centre.

Officers swooped on the sellers after a lengthy
surveillance operation. They were responding to complaints from members of
the public and nearby businesses owners fed up with the constant
presence.

The criminals tried to run into shops to avoid capture
and some were found hiding in shops and at the tube
station.

Six men and three women were arrested and more than
1,000 DVDs were seized.

Fei and Zheng received two month jail terms, after
having received 28 day sentences for similar offences. Bin got one month
and had previously breached a conditional discharge for the same
crime.

All three were given ASBOs. Two were banned from
entering the town centre and Fei was banned from entering the borough of
Harrow. In addition they were all banned from being in possession of
counterfeit DVDs.

Hmmz, sounds a bit more like a CRASBO than an ASBO to
me!

Source: Harrow Times