The BPI's Anti-piracy squad (I think they're a squad) have closed down the largest counterfeit CD and DVD factory ever uncovered in western Europe, in Southall of all places. Officers who raided the premises in Park Lane in Southall at the start of the month seized £400,000 worth of counterfeit stock and equipment capable of producing 50,000 fakes a day. Three men were arrested and they will now appear in Ealing Crown Court on 5 Sep. The outfit seemingly supplied large quantities of bootleg Bollywood CDs and DVDs, as well as counterfeit DVDs of Hollywood epics.
Commenting on the raid, investigator Tariq Mohammed told CMU: "From the outside this factory looked like any other suburban semi, but within was a factory capable of creating an enormous number of counterfeits. The fakes coming from this factory could have generated in excess of £1 million a week at street prices, and with no shortage of unregulated and unaccountable markets in the Southall area they're all too easy to sell."
BPI Director of Anti-Piracy David Martin added: "As we've seen with CD piracy, increasing numbers of organised criminals are moving into the fake DVD trade. Organised gangs increasingly control the distribution of fakes, which are increasingly produced by smaller operators around the UK, rather than imported from overseas. Cross-cooperation with both the authorities and other copyright enforcement bodies has never been so vital to address the growing problem of counterfeiting."