The fight against counterfeiters continues unabated in the British Isles. Criminal assets worth £213,166 have been taken during a Proceeds of Crime confiscation proceeding after a large-scale, international counterfeiting operation was uncovered.

Kin Man Chan, from London, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply counterfeit DVDs online in 2012 after a joint criminal and financial investigation began in 2010. The Court said he had benefitted from criminal activity to the tune of £321,307.89.

Last year's investigation, undertaken in conjunction with the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT), revealed that payments amounting to hundreds of thousands pounds were being made via PayPal to an internet sales website offering film, gaming and music products.

In a separate operation, a man from Wales has been jailed for eight months and ordered to hand over £71,000 he made from counterfeiting DVDs sold via the internet. Nigel Thomas had previously pleaded guilty to an offence of participating in a fraudulent business and eight offences of unauthorised possession of counterfeit goods.

Some 23,000 copied discs and blanks were seized as well as computers and CD burners (pictured). Representatives of EMI, Sony and other companies sampled the items seized and established that they were counterfeit.

Story filed 22.01.14