Slough Borough Council’s trading standard’s team has seized more than 3,000 counterfeit copies of blockbuster movies including Oscar nominated, Slumdog Millionaire.
Over the last two months, the Slough team has been cracking down hard on the sales and hire of illegal DVDs and other media.
The Slough operation resulted in the haul of thousands of DVDs, many of which are not for general release.
The seized items were either pirate copies or did not bear a classification. All films on DVD, Blue Ray and video, with the exception of a few categories such as sport and music, are required to be submitted to the British Board of Film Classification and have an appropriate age classification marked on them.
Dean Cooke, technical officer for Slough Borough Council, said: “We’re really pleased with all the DVDs we’ve seized, but know there are many more out there.
“The sale and rent of counterfeit and pirate films is not just a victimless crime. Honest retailers lose out, tax and VAT is not paid on the product, jobs losses occur, and there are known connections to drug sales, people smuggling and terrorism.
“We take this kind of crime very seriously and anyone caught selling or renting out these items could well receive penalties of an unlimited fine or up to ten years in prison.”
Senior Slough trading standards officer, Peter Adshead, said many illegal DVDs are supplied by travelling traders who come in to Slough and sell their wares on the street, in pubs or in factories and have a selection of the latest films in a rucksack.
Commissioner for community and leisure, Cllr Shafiq Chaudhry, added: “Well done to the team for such a successful haul.
“It is very surprising though that established outlets in Slough are involved in this illegal trade, as it’s damaging to their reputation and sales in the long run.”
Trading Standards will continue to tackle this criminal behaviour whatever the product may be.
Slough Borough Council
