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News / Archive - February 2007
12th February 2007
TEN YEAR ASBOS AND FIVE MONTH SUSPENDED PRISON SENTENCES FOR PIRATE DVD SELLERS
- SENTENCING ALSO INCLUDED TWO YEAR PROHIBITION ORDER
- - JUDGE MENTIONS LINKS TO ORGANISED CRIME
Following the recent operation by Hackney Borough Police and Hackney Council, working with FACT, targeting prolific pirate DVD sellers in Hackney, six defendants appeared for sentencing on Friday (9th).
Judge Stephen Dawson, sitting at Thames Magistrates Court gave 5 month prison sentences, suspended for 2 years, along with 10 year ASBOs barring the defendants from entering Hackney Town Centre, banning them from the possession of two or more DVDs and banning them from any selling or offering to sell anything to members of the public. He also gave all six defendants Prohibition Orders lasting 2 years requiring them not to break any of the immigration conditions imposed by the Immigration Service.
Judge Dawson said to the six defendants: “You are being used by gangmasters in the criminal fraternity and were being sent [to the UK] to commit crime…You are people who are being used by criminal people but all of the same you are conducting your own lives here and choose to break the law. Prison is the only appropriate sentence.”
Speaking later he also added, “These are very serious matters. I feel that it is highly likely that you are being used by sophisticated gang criminals in order to fund criminal activity in general.”
All six are Chinese nationals and were identified by the Immigration Service as being in the UK illegally. They all pleaded guilty to offences of film piracy by breach of copyright.
Inspector Richard Munns of Hackney Borough Police, Homerton Safer Neighbourhoods Team, said: “By imposing ten-year Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBOs) and a suspended custodial sentence on these individuals, the judge has sent a very strong message out to the community to say that vendors of counterfeit goods aren’t welcome on the streets of Hackney and their presence will not be tolerated. This has been a fantastic collaborative effort by all our partners and I’d like to pay tribute to everyone involved.”
Councillor Alan Laing, Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods said: "The activities of these pirate DVD sellers in Hackney have been a real nuisance for locals. People in Hackney have been telling me how fed up they are with being constantly pestered when they're out and about. Working with Hackney Police, Tesco and FACT, this result shows how seriously we have all taken this problem and how determined we are to stamp out this kind of criminal activity in Hackney."
Kieron Sharp, FACT Director General, added: “This is an outstanding result from a well planned and coordinated multi-agency operation. Nobody can now be in any doubt that the Courts can and will impose strong sentences for film piracy offences.
The organised criminal nature of this type of offence has also been recognised and the public can now be clear that by purchasing pirate DVDs from street sellers they are handing money over to organised crime gangs.”
The six are:
Jie HE, age 35, female
Quing CHEN, age 39, female
Qingzhu He, age 39, female
Wen HE, age 35, male
Xiao LINSHI, age 27, female
He CHIYEN, age 47, male
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7th February 2007
ROCHDALE DVD FACTORY RAIDED
Police in Heywood, Greater Manchester have raided a pirate DVD factory and arrested a 42 year-old man.
The factory was located in a private house and contained 40 DVD burners, three computers, printers and over 6,000 counterfeit DVDs. In addition, £5,000 in cash was seized from the premises.
The operation was part of an intelligence based operation by Greater Manchester Police, assisted by Rochdale Trading Standards. The man arrested has been bailed to return in September.
The seized equipment and product has been taken by FACT to be examined at its Forensic facility. Due to the sophisticated nature of this operation, FACT will be taking over the prosecution of this case.
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2nd February 2007
SEVEN PIRATE DVD SELLERS ARRESTED IN HACKNEY IN MULTI-AGENCY OPERATION TARGETING LOCAL CRIME
Two men and five women have been arrested in Hackney, East London by Police working in co-operation with FACT, Hackney Council and the Immigration Service.
The raid was part of an ongoing operation to target and disrupt pirate DVD selling in Hackney, and in particular in the car park of Tesco supermarket on Morning Lane, where up to 14 sellers have been observed operating on a daily basis.
Those arrested were all of Chinese origin and over a thousand counterfeit DVDs were seized.
Inspector Richard Munns of Hackney Borough Police, Homerton Safer Neighbourhoods Team said: “Today’s successful raid has been a fantastic collaborative effort for Hackney Borough Police and our partners from FACT and the Council. Illegal vendors, with their links to organised crime, pose a very real menace to the local community, and I’m delighted that the intense planning which went into the raid has resulted in today’s arrests. We will be looking to the courts to place Anti Social Behaviour Orders on the perpetrators, in order to stamp out this activity in Hackney.”
Councillor Alan Laing, the Cabinet Member for Neighbourhoods who raised the issue with the different agencies and who was present when the arrests were made said: "I am delighted that the police, FACT and our Trading Standards Officers acted to tackle this ongoing problem in the heart of Hackney. This has been a great example of a number of different agencies coming together to tackle a major source of complaints from the public. I would like to thank the police, Tesco and FACT for their hard work and for committing resources to making Hackney a safer place."
Kieron Sharp, Director General of the Federation Against Copyright Theft said: "Pirate DVD selling in Hackney has been a persistent problem for some time and we are delighted to be working with Police, Tesco and Hackney Council to stamp out this criminal activity.
The public should be aware that those selling these DVDs are not innocent pawns but are part of organised criminal gangs making millions of pounds a week and that in buying a pirate DVD they are contributing to crime in their local area as well as affecting local jobs in shops and cinemas.”
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