Criminal records: Crook made £2.7million from fake vinyls of artists like the Beatles and Madonna
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By RYAN HOOPER, CRIME CORRESPONDENT
Published: | Updated:
A crook who 'leeched' millions from chart-topping artists by producing knock-off vinyl records has been jailed.
Rehan Ahmed flooded the market with 200,000 counterfeits of albums by the likes of The Beatles, Madonna and Ed Sheeran.
He used rudimentary techniques and 70-year-old equipment to record music on to blank vinyls before packaging them to look like the real thing.
Ahmed sold to record shops, high street stores and collectors. It is thought he made around £2.7million out of the scheme over seven years.
He was rumbled only when trade organisation the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) carried out a test purchase and discovered the copyright infringement, leading to a police investigation.
City of London Police raided Ahmed's manufacturing plant in Acton, west London, where officers made 'the UK's largest seizure of counterfeit vinyl records'.
They found nearly 3,000 vinyl records, along with four 70-year-old vinyl presses and 3,000 metal stampers, totalling 18 tons of evidence.
Ahmed, 40, of Southall, west London, was jailed for three and a half years at Inner London Crown Court after being found guilty of being the mastermind behind 'a long-running, highly-organised operation'.
Rehan Ahmed flooded the market with 200,000 counterfeits of albums
Rehan Ahmed made millions selling fake vinyls of artists including the Beatles
Police spokesman Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt said: 'We will continue to pursue criminals who target the creative industries and bring them to justice when they do.'
The records were distributed by Ahmed under the company name Phoenix of Vinyl.
Peter Ratcliffe, of the BPI, said: 'This conviction is hugely significant.
'Sadly, it won't return the tens of millions of pounds that we estimate have been leeched from artists, the record labels that support them, and the retail community that sells their music.
'But at least this major criminal operation has now been closed down and it sends a clear signal to other counterfeiters who are exploiting music that we are coming after them.'
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