The police reckon they’ve discovered 500 original Beatles tapes – some containing previously unheard material - in a raid on a Dutch music pirates last week. The raid was a joint operation between the Dutch and British police. A spokesman in the Netherlands said the seized material was potentially priceless though investigations continue.
"We're investigating whether they really are the originals, but it appears to be so," prosecutor spokesman Robert Meulenbroek told reporters in Amsterdam. "There are about 500 tapes, so there's quite a bit to research."
Reports suggest the tapes contain songs from a planned 1969 album that never saw the light of day. Although some of the tracks were featured on the band’s final album ‘Let It Be’ some of the session tracks are unlikely to have been released.
Talking about the busting of another piracy racket International Federation of the Phonographic Industry UK chairman Jay Berman said: "We applaud this exemplary police operation, which reflects the extraordinary level of international coordination that is needed to tackle the sophisticated cross-border strategies of today's organized music pirates.”