REHAN AHMED JAILED OVER £2.7M FAKE VINYL RECORD OPERATION

Rehan Ahmed, of Southall, west London, has been jailed for three and a half years at Inner London Crown Court, City of London Police said. Officers said Ahmed made £2.7 million over seven years manufacturing counterfeit vinyl records of artists including the Beatles, Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran. Police described the operation as long-running, highly organised and entirely unlicensed. Detective Constable Daryl Fryatt said Ahmed had exploited artists and the music industry by taking advantage of the resurgence in vinyl records.

Police said the operation came to light after British Phonographic Industry (BPI) representatives made a test purchase from Ahmed's Phoenix of Vinyl warehouse in Acton, prompting a raid in February 2024. Officers described it as the largest seizure of counterfeit vinyl records UK police have recorded, with 2,791 items spanning 108 musicians, including replicas of Adele, Ariana Grande, Bad Bunny, Drake, Beyoncé and Rihanna. Police said Ahmed used four vinyl presses, believed to be around 70 years old, to produce the records. Officers found 3,000 metal stampers and thousands of sleeves and labels, seizing 18 tonnes of evidence.

Peter Ratcliffe, of the BPI, said the conviction was significant and thanked partners in the investigation. He said the sentence would not repay the millions of pounds that, according to BPI estimates, artists, labels and retailers had lost, but that police had closed down a major operation. DC Fryatt said the force would continue to pursue people who target the creative industries. Police said the case should send a message that selling counterfeit vinyl is illegal and will lead to action. Officers said the market for counterfeit records has grown alongside a wider resurgence in physical music formats.