Trading Standards officers have seized hundreds of pirated films from a Frinton home.

The raid, which followed "high quality intelligence", came after hours of undercover work by officers.

As a result hundreds of copies of films not yet released on video, such as Matrix and The Mummy, were seized, along with hundreds of Sony Playstation games and videos believed to have been used as masters, a spokesman said.

The films were on video and CD.

A substantial amount of hardware and documentation was also taken away for forensic examination.

The house was occupied when the raid took place on Wednesday but no-one has yet been arrested.

Preliminary investigations suggest the home-based operation may have had extensive contacts in the UK and overseas, the spokesman added.

Officers are currently following up leads.

Essex Trading Standards put its successful summer of raids on potential pirates down to good intelligence gathering work.

Steve Lynch, of Essex Trading Standards, said: "When Essex Trading Standards carries out a raid, we learn more about video and computer piracy. We work closely with our colleagues around the country and the police.

"We know who the bootleg criminals are and our crackdown is continuing."

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