Hundreds of illegal DVDs and counterfeit clothing worth a total of about £15,000 were seized during a weekend raid on a car boot sale in Shrewsbury.
About 500 illegally copied DVDs, including hardcore pornography, and MP3 music collections each containing about 20 albums, were seized from a stall at a car boot sale in the town’s Harlescott area on Sunday.
A small quantity of counterfeit branded clothing, including Bench, Fred Perry and Nike items, was also seized.
Nobody was arrested but a 49-year-old man from Baschurch is under investigation in connection with the stall targeted at the car boot sale.
The sale was targeted by three undercover trading standards officers, assisted by two uniformed police officers, after they received an anonymous tip-off.
Officers then took the opportunity to check if any illegal goods were being sold at the market which led to some items being seized.
Today Frances Darling, enforcement team manager for the Trading Standards Service, said: “Through the seizures and the investigation that is now under way, we are sending a very clear message to sellers that we will not tolerate the sale of counterfeit products in Shropshire.
“It is estimated that the seizures from this operation amounted to a retail value of around £15,000, although the loss to legitimate industry, whilst difficult to predict accurately, is very likely to be around £60,000.
“On a more sinister note, counterfeiting may be linked to serious crime such as people trafficking, money laundering, organised terrorism and drugs.”
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