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Raid nets £500,000 of fake software

By Tony Hallett

Published: Wednesday 08 March 2000

Police and anti-piracy groups have raided a car boot sale in Leeds and seized over £500,000 worth of counterfeit software.

A total of 30 police and 19 industry investigators swooped on around 20 stalls, confiscating some fake desktop application packages, but mostly games and DVDs.

Investigators from the European Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society, Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony targeted illegal traders at Cross Green Market.

These organisations worked with West Yorkshire Police and the Markets Division of Leeds County Council.

Terry Anslow, chief investigator at ELSPA, said: "Police are beginning to put the right resource into this, and we're glad the Crown Prosecution Service is taking on these types of cases. It's a step forward."

ELSPA has recorded an increase in this type of raid from 59 in 1997 to 968 last year, with the number of seized CDs increasing more than ten-fold over the same period to 182,000 in 1999.

However, Anslow said that Trading Standards Authorities often cannot keep up with the criminals.

Paul Cooper, head of Fair Trading at West Yorkshire Trading Standards, pointed out his organisation was involved in a similar, albeit smaller raid on the same site just before Christmas, and claimed all the UK's trading standards bodies face similar constraints.

He said: "Some people forget theirs is not the only industry we have to look at. We get all sorts of complaints, and it's a question of making choices all the time."