A ninety year old man has been charged with piracy after police discovered what they described as a “significant” hoard of illegal tapes.
Boris Thorpe, a retired bus conductor, was arrested at his Norfolk home early this morning after a dawn raid by local police and customs officers uncovered his illegal stash.
Police sources claim that Mr Thorpe had been “illegally recording” music from the radio for almost forty years and had amassed a collection of somewhere in the region of eight hundred tapes.
“Today has been a massive result for the Norfolk Constabulary and Her Majesty’s Customs and Excise,” claimed Constable Brian Friers. “We’ve uncovered a massive piracy racket here that was likely costing the country’s revenue tens of pounds every year.”
It is believed Mr Thorpe had been under police observation for a number of months as part of Operation VHS, which has been targeting piracy in the Norfolk area.
“We’ve had our eye on this fella for quite sometime now,” continued Friars. “We discovered a very sophisticated, two deck, counterfeit tape making factory in his downstairs front room and another, smaller, one deck machine along with three boxes of tapes in an upstairs bedroom. He’d even produced some handmade covers for the tapes, so it was clearly a very well run and complex operation.”
Mr Thorpe is due before Norfolk district court later today charged with over ten counts of piracy and handling counterfeit goods. If found guilty he could face up to 3 days in prison.
