Police swoop on CD-Rom thieves

Legal Microsoft-aided investigation notches up another victory in the battle against illegal software activity.

Three men, including a Dutch police officer, have been arrestedin the battle against illegal software activity. following a two-year investigation,by the National Crime Squad and Microsoft's UK internal investigation team into software theft.

About 20,000 Windows 95 upgrade CD-Roms worth more than #1.5 million were recovered on 3 September when officers specialising in large-scale organised crime swooped on a van believed to be heading for the Continent with the goods.

The disks were stolen from KAO Systems in Ireland, one of Microsoft's official distribution centres. Brendan Mallen, security manager at KAO, said the stock disappeared between August 1996 and January 1997 while it was being taken to a recycling centre.

He said: 'It's difficult to say when the software was taken because more than one theft occurred during this period. It seems the thieves have kept the CDs off the market until now.'

The arrested men - one UK national and two men from Holland - are thought to be big players in the illegal software trade. Detective Chief Inspector Alan Williams from the National Crime Squad said the two-year operation started with surveillance of software sales adverts on the internet.

This was the latest in a string of victories for Microsoft in its battle against the illegal channel. In the past three months, police have recovered CDs to the value of #50 million in London, Longstanton, Cambridge and Aachen on the German-Dutch border.

David Gregory, anti-piracy manager at Microsoft, said: 'This shows just how seriously software theft is now being treated by the enforcement agencies.'