POLICE and trading standards officers raided a house in Newport as part of an anti-piracy operation.

The raid took place on Monday, when a man was arrested and questioned on suspicion of running a counterfeiting music operation following an investigation by the Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society's Anti-Piracy Unit.

The house contained what officers believe is a music counterfeiting operation. A library containing thousands of albums was discovered during the raid forming the repertoire of material available for making counterfeit copies of music CDs.

As later editions of yesterday's Argus reported, two computers and a high speed DVD duplicator were seized in the raid and officers believe the DVDs each contain up to 50 illegally copied CD albums which were being sold for £5 over the internet.

Nick Kounoupias, of the MCPS anti-piracy unit, said: "Buying fake goods costs us all in the long run. Counterfeiting operations take money out of the economy - money that could otherwise be spent on hospitals and schools.

"They are also frequently linked to organised crime which means your cash simply helps to fund other criminal activity in neighbourhoods such as drugs.

"I would urge anyone not to buy cheap, fake products - no-one is going to thank you for buying them something fake for Christmas."

l: Customs officers have seized nearly 100,000 smuggled cigarettes following a crackdown on passengers travelling through Cardiff International Airport over the weekend. A couple from Cwmbran were found to be carrying 34,600 cigarettes, while a mother and her adult son from Monmouth were stopped with 8,800 cigarettes. The passengers were released pending further inquiries.

The evaded duty amounted to £16,500.