A morning raid at a Halifax car boot sale led to the largest seizure of chipped consoles ever in the UK.
West Yorkshire Trading Standards officers and West Yorkshire Police raided a 23-year-old man’s residence to find 246 Wii, 168 Xbox 360s, 19 PSPs, 12 DS Lites, six PlayStation 2s, and six Playstation 3s. They also found computers set up for disc duplication, 300-400 copied games, £5,000 in cash, and the mod chips themselves. The value of the consoles is in excess of £125,000, and the discs, combined with a related bust, are valued at over £50,000.
All consoles have now been sent to an anti-piracy unit for examination.
Graham Hebblethwaite, Chief Officer of West Yorkshire Trading Standards, said: “Copyright crime is driven by greed and causes a loss of millions of pounds to retailers of West Yorkshire and to members of the music and entertainment industry every year. The haul of items from this operation should send out a clear warning to individuals involved in the illegal copyright industry that they will dealt with severely. This sort of crime carries a maximum sentence of 10 years imprisonment.”
This guy’s bust follows a string of recent ones in America. It seems like the industry is really cracking down on piracy and modification.
[Via Gamersreports]
