TRADING standards officers have seized 150 counterfeit CDs in Bury in a crackdown on piracy.

They visited nine car boot sales in the borough while taking part in a regional investigation with colleagues from across the North West.

In total, inspectors visited 46 boot sales and 1,272 stalls at one-day markets across the region.

In just one week, some 2,520 counterfeit items with a street value of £16,000 were confiscated. The bulk comprised 566 items of clothing and 1,800 CDs.

Mr Peter Jagger, Bury's trading standards manager, said: "This initiative has given us some real information about the depth of the problem in the North West and will no doubt help us as we continue to clamp down on counterfeiters.

"To some they may seem harmless, but the fact is that not only do they offer sub-standard goods to the consumer, but they also put under threat bona fide traders and companies, even threaten jobs. We will continue to play our part to try to stamp them out."

Anyone contravening the Trade Marks Act 1994 can face up to ten years imprisonment and/or an unlimited fine.

The investigation was co-ordinated by the North West Trading Standards Anti-counterfeiting Panel. It is made up of representatives of all 23 trading standards authorities in the region, stretching from Cheshire to Cumbria and the Pennines.