UK games collector raided after buying £10,000 of discarded dev kits

A London-based collector, Darius Khan, says he bought a lot of hardware from an e-waste subcontractor for £10,000 that included development kits, controllers, autographed games and prototype cartridges. After listing parts of the haul for sale online, UK police raided Khan’s home and seized the Sega dev kits, alleging they had been stolen.

The story drew further attention when YouTube channel Gamers Nexus travelled to the UK to investigate and published an hour-long documentary. Khan also says a private investigator using the name Paul, who was working for Fusion 85, visited his home to photograph the hardware before going quiet.

The Video Game Preservation Museum started an online fundraiser to buy the lot. Khan described the raid to Gamers Nexus: “Seven o'clock in the morning—approximately—bang, bang, bang on the door.” Plain-clothes officers confiscated dev kits and prototype cartridges but left controllers and other bits.

United Kingdom, London

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