THOUSANDS of fake DVDs, CDs and games worth more than £150,000 have been seized in a high-profile crackdown on rogue traders in the run-up to Christmas.

Officers from Bolton Trading Standards have been targeting traders who have been pitching up stalls and selling bogus goods outside established markets and car boot sales.

Along with police and HM Revenue and Customs, officers have carried out a string of joint raids at markets in Lever Street, Great Lever, and Cawdor Street, Farnworth, over the past two months.

They have seized pirate DVDs, CDs and video games with a retail value of more than £150,000 along with more than £5,000 of fake branded clothing.

HM Revenue and Customs has also been taking action to stop the sale of counterfeit and smuggled cigarettes and tobacco.

The action has seen the illegal trading dwindle down to almost nothing at both of the markets in the build up to Christmas.

Nick Peel, Bolton Council’s executive member for licensing, said: “We are sending a clear message to the counterfeiters to stay away from Bolton this Christmas.

“As well as continuing to disrupt their activities by seizing their goods, we are making test purchases using covert video filming to target the people behind the trade in fakes.”

He added: “We have already identified a number of key individuals and their vehicles and will continue to gather evidence so we can bring these criminals before the courts.”

The DVDs seized include films which are still in the cinema such as 2012 and Harry Brown.

A further raid at a house in Radcliffe on Saturday afternoon saw officers from trading standards, police and the Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT) seize copying equipment and more than 6,000 counterfeit and blank discs.

There were multiple copies of movies such as 2012 and the total retail value of goods seized was more than £50,000.

Bolton Trading Standards is also warning people that counterfeit jewellery is being sold on the black market including the Pandora, Links of London and Tiffany brands.

A spokesman said: “This jewellery is very expensive to buy as a genuine product and would only be sold from authorised outlets so if being sold from markets, car boot sales, from a man in a van or in pubs and similar outlets at a much cheaper price they will be counterfeit and people should not purchase them.”

Further joint raids are planned.

pkeaveny@ theboltonnews.co.uk