Friday the 13th nabs videogame pirates

Unlucky duo continuing trend of smashed electronics pirates. Indeed the fight is heating up, as the raids continue. 'Organised crime' too?

Raids on two separate Scottish addresses to investigate an illegal counterfeiting operation have lead to the arrest of two people in the Highlands. Following the raids last Friday the 13th - a large number of items including consoles and games were seized as part of the ongoing fight against Intellectual Property (IP) Crime by investigators from ELSPA (the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association) working in partnership with the local police and trading standards.

Prior to the raids, investigators from ELSPA and Highland Council Trading Standards made several undercover purchases yielding a number of dirty games. The packaging of these games even featured advertisements encouraging buyers to purchase further counterfeit titles. Chipping equipment was seized and is undergoing forensic examination.

Michael Rawlinson, managing director of ELSPA, said: "It highlights our commitment to stop in their tracks illegitimate traders : those prepared to profit unfairly from the creativity and hard work of others. Last Friday the 13th was indeed unlucky for this thieving duo."

Alistair Thomson, Head of Environmental Health and Trading Standards, said: "The supply of counterfeit goods has strong links to organised crime and not only affects the people who develop and produce the genuine items but also the local businesses who sell them and the innocent consumers who are duped into buying them."

D.S. Alex Chisholm from Northern Constabulary's Central Division Pro-active Team added: "We will continue to carry out intelligence-led operations like this with our partners to target those involved in organised crime within our force area."

Courteousy of Barrington Harvey PR

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