Police at Bedworth carried out a joint operation with The Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (Elspa) and Warwickshire Trading Standards on Wednesday, during which a search warrant was executed at a property in Keresley End, Bedworth.

During the search on November 12, officers recovered over £16000 worth of counterfeit goods from a house in Keresley End including a quantity of chips that modify video games consoles, video games and videos.

A 38 year old man from Keresley End was arrested after the search. He was taken into custody at Nuneaton police station and released on police bail on Thursday November 13, to return to the police station on February 14 2009.

Speaking about the operation, ELSPA's managing director, Michael Rawlinson, said:: "As always, ELSPA is indebted to the country's Trading Standards Departments and the police teams with which they work. Intellectual property theft is growing and the loss of income by the actions of such thieves can threaten the very viability of games developers and publishers. Publishers often invest many £millions making a game, and copying games and altering machines to play illegally copied games, both make it harder for publishers to cover their costs. Often the unseen cost of piracy is lost industry jobs."