Italian police have cracked down on a league that sold counterfeit copies of old video games, reports BBC.
Video games that were popular in the 80s and 90s, including "Super Mario" and "Star Wars", have become popular again and created a large second-hand market – which has also attracted criminal actors.
About 12,000 consoles with over 47 million fake copies of games were seized in connection with the raid, according to Alessandro Langela, head of the unit for economic crime at the Turin police.
The seizure is estimated to be worth 47.5 million euros, approximately half a billion Swedish kronor. The games were imported from China with the intention of being resold to various stores.
All the games have been destroyed and nine Italian citizens are now suspected of trading in counterfeit goods – and risk up to eight years in prison if convicted.
A few years ago, a Super Mario game was sold for 1.5 million dollars at an auction.
