Police Make 2nd Raid on Alleged Software Pirates
In their second raid in a week, Westminster police and the FBI on Tuesday confiscated a warehouse full of allegedly bogus Microsoft software in Long Beach.
Investigators searched a storage facility at 6655 Atlantic Ave. as part of an ongoing probe of Orange County-based Asian gangs allegedly trafficking in illegal software.
Nearly 10,000 counterfeit CD-ROMs, mostly copies of Microsoft Office 97 and the operating system Windows 98, were found crammed inside a brick storage garage. Amid pouring rain, officers hauled out boxes filled with thousands of compact disks sporting the Microsoft logo.
The goods, which filled a truck, were taken to the Westminster police station. No one was arrested.
Tuesday’s raid was linked to a similar search last Wednesday, when investigators went through five warehouses--two in Long Beach, three in Paramount--in search of pirated software.
Police said Tuesday’s raid yielded at least $2 million worth of goods. They added that estimates from last Wednesday’s raid of a Paramount operation, initially thought be around $30 million worth of counterfeit software, could double.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
