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Adults left to right: Sgt Chris Walsh, Islington Mayor Cllr Jyoti Vaga, Sgt Stuart Simpson, Andy Howell (Fact senior investigator) and Cllr Lucy Watt, Deputy Council Leader |
Do you have pirate DVD ‘factory’ as a neighbour?
‘Cottage industry’ supplies films sold on street, investigator reveals
AN anti-piracy investigator has lifted the lid on the campaign to drive out street sellers who hawk illegal DVDs at the Nag’s Head in Holloway.
Andrew Howell, from watchdog group Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact), has been working closely with the Nag’s Head police unit on a campaign to convict dealers and shut down Islington-based counterfeiting “factories”.
DVDs, ranging from Hollywood blockbusters to pornography, are on sale at the Nag’s Head for about £5 each – or £10 for ten – but the sellers buy them for as little as 80p.
Mr Howell said this week: “It is a little bit like a cottage industry. We have found that in the last 12 months or so the operations have moved away from large warehouses to terraced houses or flats where they burn the films onto disc and then they go to a ‘wholesaler’ and then a ‘distributor’ before going to the street dealers.”
His organisation gives expert evidence in court. Mr Howell added: “Holloway has been a very active area in terms of people selling counterfeit DVDs.”
Led by Sergeant Stuart Simpson, the Nag’s Head team has confiscated 78,000 DVDs since July last year.
It has also seized 1.4 million counterfeit cigarettes.
The team has been so successful that, as a thank-you for the police operation, Fact presented Grafton Primary School, which is behind the Nag’s Head, with a cheque for £500 on Wednesday.
It will be used to buy school play equipment.
Police, Fact officials and officials from Islington Council’s trading standards team seized 20,000 DVDs at a “factory” in Green Lanes earlier this year.
Sgt Simpson said: “Our partnership with Fact has been incredibly effective in dealing with counterfeit DVDs in the area. We get a lot of intelligence from the street.”
Tip-offs have helped police target the next level in the supply chain above the street sellers.
The team has been using extra high-visibility patrols as well as undercover officers to grab the dealers off the streets. It has secured a number of convictions, with evidence so overwhelming that suspects are urged by their defence teams to plead guilty. |
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