Two jailed over fake DVD factory

More than 20,000 illegally copied DVDs were found at the factory

Two Chinese men have been jailed after they admitted running what was described by police as one of the UK's biggest ever pirate DVD factories.

Kent Police said the facility, in Burnt Oak, north London, could make up to 36,000 counterfeit films every day.

John Tak Ke Lau, 45, and Chee Chong Liew, 35, both of Upper Clapton Road, east London, admitted conspiracy to defraud five major film companies.

They were sentenced to 16 months and 21 months respectively on Wednesday.

Raids at an industrial unit in Burnt Oak on 1 February followed intelligence gathering and arrests made in the Medway area of Kent at the end of January.

Kent Police's serious crime squad and the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) worked on the operation.

The factory had printers used to produce DVD labels and covers

Lau and Liew were both arrested at the DVD factory.

Thousands of illegally copied DVDs were seized, along with computers, DVD burners and blank DVDs and plastic cases.

Kent Police said an estimated 8,000 fake DVDs were being turned out on a daily basis, with a street value of £1.2m a month.

Det Insp John Biggadike said after the sentencings: "The discovery of this factory helped break up a criminal network supplying counterfeit films in Kent and across the South East and London."

FACT's Raymond Leinster commented: "This should be a warning that those involved in this kind of activity can and will be dealt with through prison sentences."

The judge at Harrow Crown Court recommended that Liew should be deported on his release from jail.