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Euro hunt for the pirate fakers
26/ 3/2004
A MAJOR clampdown on "pirates" who counterfeit everything from
children's toys and records to designer label clothes has been
launched after pioneering detection work in the north west.
The European Parliament is legislating for a crackdown on the
£1.7billion business, armed with examples from Greater
Manchester.
North west Euro MP, Arlene McCarthy, Labour's spokesman on legal
affairs, is leading a campaign against the pirates.
She says the culprits are not "Del Boy Trotter" figures but
international crooks who destroy jobs and put lives at risk.
"The dangers are particularly prevalent for children, with such
nasty goods as toys coated with high levels of lead, and children's
clothing made from flammable materials," she said.
The MEP teamed up with Gavin Terry, a trading standards officer
from Oldham, who leads the north west group against piracy.
Among the cases they presented to the European Parliament were a
counterfeit factory in Salford, raided by trading standards
officers, which was making fake designer clothes worth
millions.
Poisoned vodka, which resulted in the death of a Scottish woman
last year was also found in a shop run by an Asian family in
Manchester in December.
And experts say that Bolton is becoming a UK centre for pirate
music production. Computer equipment capable of producing millions
of illicit CDs was seized recently.
And Ms McCarthy also claimed there is increasing evidence of links
between piracy and counterfeiting, Northern Ireland paramilitaries
and even the more deadly threat of terror group Al-Qaeda.
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