The UK’s largest illegal DVD manufacturing ‘factory’ has been shut down following a joint raid by the City of London Police, the Metropolitan Police and FACT (Federation Against Copyright Theft).
The raid on a commercial printers in Wembley, North West London was raided last week and a significant number of printing plates, used to produce the covers, were seized. Titles that had been printed included Watchmen, Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Reader and Gran Torino.
Officers seized 420 DVD burners, 38,000 blank DVDs and one million printed covers. In addition, there were approximately 60,000 burned and packaged DVDs ready to be despatched.
Four people were arrested in connection with the large-scale production and distribution of counterfeit DVD covers and money laundering and have been released on police bail. FACT estimates the commercial business has printed millions of covers over the past year.
Police say the DVDs, which sell on the street for approximately £3 each, generate “substantial” profits for the counterfeiters.
City of London Police’s Det Chief Inspector Dave Service said: “This operation provides further evidence of the scale of the organised criminal networks involved in DVD Counterfeiting and how big a problem it has become. This type of criminality is often looked upon as a victimless offence. However the proceeds gained are massive and can be used to fund other criminal operations while substantial damage is inflicted on the film industry, and on the UK film industry in particular.”
