Police uncovered the UK's largest haul of its kind in hi-tech video equipment during two raids on Wickford homes.

Officers from the Essex Police support unit joined an operation spearheaded by investigators from the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact).

They found £500,000 of new digital video and laser discs - representing a potential £1 million loss to the film industry.

The state-of-the-art discs hold films which are of a far superior quality to video cassettes and can be watched in any language.

Many of them were illegal pre-releases which have not yet gone on sale.

Police said: "A man was spoken to by police and will be interviewed at a later date.

"The items are being examined."

Reg Dixon, director general of Fact, said he was pleased with the outcome of the operation. He said: "There are so many things that can be done with these discs, including language changes and subtitles among others. The ones we found were all pre-releases for this country."

"We acted after a close investigation regarding the new product. I am delighted with the result. If this sort of thing is allowed to go on, it can badly affect retailers all over the country."

He added: "It was the largest seizure of material in this type of digital format. We were very pleased with the operation and inquiries will now continue."

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