French police have raided a store in Paris that sold large amounts of counterfeit Bollywood music and films, and one man was arrested. They seized an estimated 3,000 pirate CDs and more than 200,000 counterfeit DVDs manufactured in Hong Kong, Singapore and Malaysia.

Officers from the Police National Judiciaire raided the store following a formal complaint from the IFPI. Many of the CDs and DVDs seized contained Bollywood repertoire whose rights are owned by members of BPI, which represents the recording industry in the UK. Officials from IFPI and BPI were present during the raid and assisted with identifying the counterfeit product.

Len Hynds, head of enforcement at IFPI, says, "This raid was a great example of co-operation between the French police and rights holders. We congratulate the Police National Judiciaire on taking firm action against a store that was flagrantly breaking the law by openly selling counterfeit products in the heart of Paris.

"Some criminals have the mistaken belief that if they smuggle and sell counterfeit CDs they will escape the attentions of the authorities who are only concerned with drug trafficking. In fact, the authorities are very aware that the pirate music trade defrauds the public, evades taxes, costs jobs and denies artists an income from their work. That is why it is so important that police and rights holders work together to combat it."

David Wood, director of BPI's Anti-Piracy Unit, adds: "Bollywood piracy is a growing problem throughout Europe. It is one that anti-piracy officers from the UK have a good track record of dealing with and we are sharing this expertise with law enforcement agencies across the continent. This has led to successful raids on organised criminal gangs in countries such as France and the Netherlands."

Story filed 27.02.08