£2m fake DVD haul found
More than £2 million worth of pirate DVDs have been discovered above a Black Country shop in the United Kingdom's biggest-ever seizure of its kind.
Around 800,000 discs were uncovered by stunned trading standards officers during the raid on a secret enclosure above a shop in Dudley High Street.
The shop itself, Ace's Discs, was a legitimate business, the trading officers said today. The premises upstairs were guarded by extensive CCTV coverage.
A concealed entrance at the store opened into a room containing DVD burners and PCs thought to be at the heart of a "sophisticated" major wholesale network.
Evidence was uncovered during simultaneous raids at two residential homes in Sandwell. Five people, including one woman, were arrested and bailed to return to court pending further investigations.
The seizures followed a painstaking joint intelligence operation between anti-piracy agencies, trading standards and police.
Bob Charnley at Sandwell Trading Standards said he hoped the bust would come prove a major blow to the pirate DVD business. We hope this will make a significant dent in the counterfeit DVD market in the Midlands." Ace's Discs was today closed.
