Thousands of pounds' worth of 'bootleg' CDs were seized and three traders arrested at a raid on a Bradford market.

The planned swoop on a computer fair at the Richard Dunn sports centre, Odsal, was organised by Trading Standards officers to crack down on the sale of illegally copied CDs.

With back-up from Dudley Hill police, TS officers yesterday arrested three stall holders at the market under the Trade Marks Act 1994.

They were questioned in connection with selling and exposing for sale pop music CDs which had been copied without the authorisation of the trade mark holders.

More than 1,600 MP3 CDs - a CD which has a number of albums compressed onto it and can only be used on compatible equipment - were packed in boxes and taken away as evidence.

The CDs were on sale at between £5 and £10 each and the haul was estimated to be worth about £12,000.

One of the Trading Standards officers, who could not to be named, said: "It has been a very successful raid and has resulted in three people being arrested under the Trade Mark Act 1994.

"Under the act they have allegedly committed an offence by selling or exposing for sale CDs which have been copied without the authorisation of the trade mark owner.

"The maximum penalty for this offence is ten years' imprisonment and the minimum is a fine.

"We will be questioning them today and they'll probably be bailed to appear at a police station on another date while we examine the evidence and possibly search their homes."

The offenders may be summoned to appear in court.

The booty featured a CD of ten Beatles albums on sale for £5 and a collection of Now albums on one CD which would fetch £6.

None of the traders arrested was from the Bradford area - one was from Bexley Heath and the other two were from Manchester. But they are known to frequent markets in the district.

A representative from the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society, who could not be named, was at the seizure and said CD copying was a growing problem in the Bradford area.

"There's a lot of it around here and we know that about 80 to 90 per cent of MP3s are being sold at these sort of fairs," he said.

"It costs the music industry millions of pounds every year, but it's difficult to say how many millions.

"On each CD there are about ten to 12 albums and you get that for just a fiver. It's a bargain to the buyer but the quality won't be brilliant and you have to have the right equipment to listen to it."

He added that modern technology had made it easier for potential bootleggers to copy CDs.

"Now you can pick up a leader writer, which duplicates the CD and compresses it, and set up your own copying centre for just £500," he added.

"Also, people can also download off the Internet and make copies that way. This is another area that we are targeting."

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