London man jailed for running UK's biggest counterfeit vinyl operation
Rehan Ahmed, a Southall resident, received up to three and a half years in prison for operating the largest fake-vinyl scheme in the UK, selling illegal copies of major artists.
In February 2024 police raided a three-storey unit in west London owned by Rehan Ahmed, uncovering roughly 15,000 counterfeit vinyl records produced under the names Phoenix of Vinyl and Paragon Music. Ahmed, a Southall father of three, pleaded guilty to two counts of copyright infringement and to acquiring criminal property, receiving concurrent sentences of two years eight months and three and a half years from Judge Darren Reed.
The raid revealed a disorganized factory with outdated machinery, no cutting lathe, and stock worth about £1 million, while labels and sleeves were outsourced to a Gravesend printer. The case forms part of a broader crackdown by the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit and the British Phonographic Industry, which have executed dozens of search warrants and seized items valued up to £8 million. The counterfeit market has expanded as UK vinyl sales rose 13.3% to 7.6 million units in 2025, driving higher prices and creating opportunities for illegal producers. Platforms like eBay have recently removed millions of suspect listings, and further investigations such as Operations Typhoon and Imatra continue to target similar operations.
