ANTI-PIRACY chiefs last night revealed how they uncovered a massive counterfeiting operation when they raided a North-East home.

Trading standards officers seized more than £50,000 worth of equipment, DVD movies, computer games and records in the morning swoop on a house in Darlington.

The search of the property, in the Haughton area of the town, found a makeshift factory set up in the basement and a huge amount of copied material waiting to be posted to customers in the UK and abroad.

One man was arrested after a total of 10,000 items were recovered, including many films not yet released for viewing in British cinemas.

Copies of the new blockbuster I, Robot, which opened in cinemas last night, were among those found.

Two PCs and ten DVD burners - capable of producing large numbers of discs simultaneously - were also seized in Thursday's operation.

The raid was carried out by Darlington trading standards officers, Durham Police, the Regional Assets Recovery Team, Mechanical Copyright Protection Society (MCPS), the Entertainments and Leisure Software Publishers' Association and the Federation Against Copyright Theft.

Police said last night that the man arrested was expected to be bailed while investigations continued.

He could face possible charges and the confiscation of goods, equipment and assets.

Nigel Green, Darlington trading standards manager, said it was a significant operation for the North-East, which "sent out a clear message that counterfeiting is a serious crime".

Nick Kounoupias, of the MCPS Anti-Piracy Unit, said: "This looks to have been a fairly big counterfeiting operation.

"You don't have ten DVD burners unless you mean business. We've been aware of this operation for a number of months, during which time it is likely that considerable profits have been made.

"There is evidence that many counterfeiters use the proceeds of selling illegally copied CDs to fund other criminal activity. So local communities suffer socially too when counterfeit products are sold.

"People can make a positive difference to their community by not being tempted to buy cheap, fake CDs, DVDs and games."