Issued By West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service

COUNTERFEIT MUSIC FACTORY SMASHED

Officers from West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service along with investigators from the British Phonographic Industry and the West Yorkshire Police today carried out a dawn raid in the Wakefield area. After a long investigation the raid culminated in a large counterfeit music “factory” being uncovered.

Numerous items were seized including four tower units, a laptop computer, several CD writers and a large quantity of music CD’s and DVDs. In total the seizures have an estimated value of £100,000.

Martin Wood, West Yorkshire’s Chief Trading Standards Services Officer said:

“Again this shows that by working in partnership with the West Yorkshire Police and investigators from the Music Industry, we are ensuring that illicit operations such as this are closed down. This latest action is part of an ongoing operation against the producers and sellers of counterfeit goods, which will be continuing over the Christmas period.”

David Martin, Head of the Anti Piracy Unit for the British Phonographic Industry added,

“I am very grateful for the pro-active professionalism of West Yorkshire Trading Standards Service. They have successfully closed a fully equipped illegal factory which will hopefully stem the flow of counterfeit product this Christmas”

For further information please contact:

Paul Smith, Principal Officer, tel 0113 289 8219

Paul Cooper, Divisional Manager, tel 0113 289 8240