Fake CDs such as this are often indistinguishable from real ones

A six-month investigation has seen representatives from the record, film and software industries working with police and trading standards officers.

Seventeen addresses in Merseyside and Lancashire were raided.

The organisations involved say five "major" duplicating factories were also exposed during the operation.

The operation was conducted by the Department for Work and Pensions, along with the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) and the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (Elspa).

Benefit fraud

More than 130 police, trading standards officers and investigators were involved in the dawn raids.

They were also targeting those committing benefit fraud, reflecting the growing increase in the level of cooperation between the government and the so-called "creative" industries.

"The criminal gangs that control the production, manufacturing, distribution and sale of counterfeit goods may have become increasingly organised and large in number, but so have we," said BPI anti-piracy director David Martin.

"By taking a multi-agency approach to tackle this growing problem, we can not only pool our intelligence and resources, but seek far stiffer penalties for those who profit at the expense of the creative industries and the taxpayer alike," he added.