LONDON, March 9: A husband-and-wife team, presumably of Pakistani origin, has been found guilty by the courts here of running a multi-million pound scam, believed to be the largest and most complex music fraud of its kind to date in the UK.

Naveed Shaikh, 38, and his wife Farhat Nissa, 35, had been charged with conspiring to defraud the music industry between May 21, 2003 and Dec 22, 2005.Ayaz Javed Qureshi, 38, and Wasim Mir, 37, both market traders, had pleaded guilty in 2006 to conspiring to defraud.

In October 2006 at Forest Gate police station five persons were charged with a multi-million pound conspiracy to defraud the world’s music industry.

The case is claimed to be the result of a year-long investigation by the Metropolitan Police into CD copyright theft and pirating of legitimate music.

In October 2005 as a result of information supplied by the music industries, British and international trade organisations, police officers attended Woolwich market and arrested two persons (Nadim Mir / Ayaz Javed Qureshi) selling pirated CDs. Approximately, 2000 discs were seized.

The arrests directly led to a further arrest (Wasim Mir) in east London and the seizure of an additional 35,000 illegal CDs in an East London warehouse. No evidence was found against Nadim Mir.

Among the artistes whose CDs were pirated were Destiny’s Child, Maria Carey, 50 Cent, and Usher.

The investigation continued and later in 2005 further search warrants were executed at addresses in Hertfordshire and North London.

As a result of these raids, further pirated music product and property, including computers and manufacturing equipment, were seized. One person Naveed Sheikh was arrested at the scene and Farhat Nissa voluntarily attended the police station where she was also arrested.

All persons were interviewed throughout the course of the investigation and subsequently released on police bail.

Using the latest anti-piracy techniques and with assistance from the British arm of the music industry, the BPI, and the international arm of the music industry, the IFPI, and in partnership with the London regional asset recovery team, officers identified a number of manufacturing plants in Eastern Europe. These manufacturing facilities were visited and found to have produced the discs on behalf of individuals in the UK.

Subsequently, a file was sent to the Crown Prosecution Service and as a result of their direction conspiracy charges were brought against all five persons.