10:20am Thursday 17th January 2008
By Jonathan Moyes
A MAN selling bootleg DVDs dropped his stash and fled after he spotted a Guardian photographer.
We found 87 pirate discs concealed in a black bin bag lying in bushes at Leyton Mills shopping centre car park.
The films included titles such as The Sweeney Todd and American Gangster, which are yet to be released in Britain, as well as several pornographic movies.
Some were recorded on cameras inside American cinemas.
In one, the cinema's audience was clearly audible while in another we could make out only half the picture.
The DVD seller initially approached the Guardian reporter and photographer, then hid behind a lorry and disappeared.
We have now handed the films to the police.
Community safety cabinet member, Cllr Afzal Akram, said: "I am delighted with the Guardian's discovery.
"I would urge anyone who makes a similar find to hand them to the Trading Standards department or the police.
"I would urge anyone considering buying an illegal DVD to consider the fact that they are funding organised crime like prostitution, people trafficking and drug smuggling."
Eddy Levinten is a spokesman for the Feder-ation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).
And he said: "We are warning the public agai-nst purchasing knock-off DVDs and contributing to organised crime in Waltham Forest.
"People who do are wasting their money on a drastically inferior product as well as harming local businesses who sell legitimate DVDs."
The haul of illegal DVDs comes just a month after police seized 40,000 pirate films with a street value of £100,000 in Warner Road, Walthamstow, last month.
In 2006 the Guardian ran a campaign urging readers not to buy dodgy DVDs.
The move was in response to sightings of DVD sellers, often exploited or trafficked migrant workers, operating across the borough.
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