An estimated £30,000 worth of pirate DVDs have been seized after a raid on a house in Blackburn.
Trading Standards Officers from Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen joined forces with the police to swoop on the terraced house in Bromley Street.
More than 800 multi-disc box sets of current films and TV series, and £16,000 in cash, were seized in the joint operation when a warrant was served on Wednesday 2 July 2014. Titles seized included recent series from Game of Thrones, Walking Dead, Bones and Outnumbered.
Investigations are continuing into the seizure while consideration is given to possible charges under trademarks legislation for a large-scale eBay trader. The 22-year-old man, who uses a bogus Preston address on his eBay site and a network of bank accounts to hide his illegal money, is believed to have earned many thousands of pounds from selling the fakes as genuine DVDs on the internet.
Fake DVDs continue to be problem in Lancashire. In another recent case a man from Chorley received a suspended sentence and 100 hours community order in March of this year for running an illegal internet business selling counterfeit titles such as White House Down, Despicable Me 2 and Evil Dead to the public.
County Councillor Janice Hanson, Lancashire County Council cabinet member for public protection, said: “This raid sends a clear message that illegal activity including the sale of counterfeit goods will not be tolerated in Lancashire.
"There should be a level playing field for honest retailers who sell genuine goods and pay their taxes. In today’s tough economic climate, the council will continue to work hard to protect our legitimate shopkeepers by removing illegal operators from the marketplace".