Sega, police raids and a video game preservation auction

In 2025 London police raided the home of Darius Khan. The junk dealer says he was about to sell a set of Sega dev kits, cartridges and prototypes to the Video Game Preservation Museum. After the items were confiscated and an eight-hour interrogation, Khan says he was not formally charged but was threatened with everything from theft to money laundering.

When Gamers Nexus’ Steve Burke began to pick at the matter, a contractor hired to dispose of Sega’s hardware mistakenly sent the wrong email, suggesting corporate negligence rather than criminal intent. Burke and his investigative team visited Khan in London to reconstruct events.

Khan flips trash for cash, visiting scrapyards in search of material he can sell; most finds net modest sums, but he says he hit the jackpot with hardware apparently pulled from a Sega office. He made a deal with an on-site manager and put the e-waste up for auction; the Video Game Preservation Museum raised over £60,000 to secure the lot on eBay.

United Kingdom, London

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