BPI and IFPI help shatter Russian piracy operation.

BPI and IFPI anti-piracy officers helped bust apart a Russian mafia gang running a 1m [pounds sterling] music piracy business out of London.

The two music organisations worked alongside City of London police in a two-year operation which resulted in the arrest of two members of the organised crime syndicate, Vladimar Stroguine and Alexander Tanov, who subsequently pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges at Southwark Crown Court. Sentencing in the case was adjourned last Friday until February 2.

The IFPl's head of enforcement Iain Grant says the long-running investigation kicked off in 1999 when the IFPI and BPI noticed large quantities of Russian-made CDs coming into London and the South East. Grant says that with senior investigator Mick Ellis leading the ...