POLICE have recovered a haul of thousands of suspected pirate DVDs and computer games when they stopped a car.

A police spokesman said officers from the Durham Constabulary's Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) unit were on duty in the Pelaw Bank area of Chester-le-Street when they stopped a Daewoo Lalos car at 10am on Sunday.

The car was pulled over after having shown up as having no insurance.

The spokesman said: "When the officers started questioning the two men in the car they became suspicious and further inquiries were made.

"These led police to execute search warrants at two houses - one in The Grove, Burnhope and the other in Hylton Terrace in Pelton.

"Inside the two properties police found a collection estimated at around 30,000 items comprising films, TV series, music titles and computer games."

The spokesman said several Xboxes were also recovered, along with recording equipment, toner cartridges and around £500 cash.

The Daewoo car was seized under the Proceeds of Crime Act and the two men, one in his thirties the other in his forties, were arrested for copyright offences.

The suspects were taken to Durham city police office and interviewed before being released on police bail until January, pending forensic examinations of computers seized from the two houses.

The film and TV titles include Run Fat Boy Run, Knocked Up, Evan Almighty, Prison Break series 3, High School Musical 2 and Atonement - part of which was filmed in Redcar.

Among the Xbox titles were Pirates of the Caribbean and UEFA Champions League, Crackdown and Stranglehold.

Officials from FACT - Federation Against Copyright Theft - were last night due to visit the police headquarters to discuss the case with the police and take the collection away for further examination.