INVESTIGATORS are celebrating a major success in their continuing battle against electronic counterfeiting.

A huge cache of fake computer games were confiscated during an early morning raid on a house in the Whitby area of North Yorkshire.

More than £35,000 of counterfeit games discs was seized in the swoop on Monday at the home of a middle-aged couple by trading standards officers and local police.

They were said to be trading via a website selling mainly Xbox titles from a makeshift office. Following a test purchase of two games, officers swooped as the couple returned from holiday. One person was arrested at the scene and now faces prosecution.

About 1,000 games discs were seized, comprising equal amounts of Xbox and PlayStation/PlayStation 2 titles.

Also seized were two PCs along with five stand-alone CD burners comprising 15 CD writers in total.

The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (Elspa) represents the interests of the UK games publishers and director-general Roger Bennett said: "Software counterfeiting is not just a back-bedroom scam but a serious offence that can lead to a criminal prosecution.

"Elspa would like to thank the efforts of North Yorkshire Trading Standards and police in their attempts to protect legitimate local traders and remove illegal products from the marketplace."

Elspa manager John Hillier said: "Many counterfeiters are moving to online trading under the false belief that the Internet offers them anonymity. This, as this investigation has demonstrated, is not the case."

The association has a dedicated anti-piracy unit with investigators all over the UK and often works closely with the police and trading standards.

It is estimated that more than £2bn is lost every year by UK industry to games software counterfeiters. Anyone with information on computer games piracy should contact the police, their local Trading Standards Office or call the Elspa anti-piracy unit hotline on 08705 133405.