British retro collector Darius Khan invested a five-figure sum in rare developer hardware from Sega. What seemed like a legal stroke of luck for him unexpectedly ended in a police raid and the seizure of his collection.
How did this happen? The 32-year-old Darius Khan from Stratford in East London reportedly paid nearly £10,000 (around €11,500) for prototypes, games, and other hardware that had been left at Sega’s former headquarters in Brentford.
A moving company hired for the clearance allegedly offered him the devices after the company’s move to Chiswick. Among them were devkits for game development as well as some unreleased titles (Daily Mail).
Khan, who typically purchases furniture and household appliances for export to West Africa, had envisioned a profitable resale in parts. But shortly after the collector began reselling parts of the hardware, the police reportedly showed up at his door (PCGamer).
City of London Police, Open up!
Why is the police interested in old developer kits? The trigger was apparently not solely the possession of the hardware, but its journey over several stages – and the planned resale.
As PC Gamer and Khan himself (Gamers Nexus) describe, the devkits caught the attention of a video game museum that showed a particular interest in the hardware.
During this time, a person named “Paul” also appeared, who played a central role. According to Khan’s account, this “Paul” reached out and expressed interest in the devices.
However, this did not evolve into a normal purchasing process. Instead, authorities were apparently involved. According to the Daily Mail, “Paul” was not an ordinary interested party but a private investigator from a company specializing in intellectual property.
The video game museum launched an online fundraising campaign to acquire the entire collection. As PCGamer speculates, the campaign combined with the private investigator’s investigations may have prompted the police to intervene. The police eventually conducted a search and seized the hardware (Daily Mail).
According to reports, accusations of potential ownership rights concerning the devkits were at stake. Developer kits are generally only issued on loan. Even if they are later disposed of or written off, it can be unclear whether they can legally transfer into free ownership (Encyclopedia).
Four-digit sum confiscated
How did the collector react? The affected individual publicly commented on the incident and expressed shock at the approach. For him, the devkits were part of video game history, which he wanted to preserve and partially resell.
With the seizure, Darius Khan thus lost hardware worth over €11,000.
The case attracted so much attention that a detailed documentary about it has now been released. The YouTube documentary reconstructs the entire process – from the purchase of the devices to the police raid.
Here you can watch the full documentary about the case:
What happens next? Emails accidentally sent to the Gamers Nexus portal now suggest that Sega commissioned the company Waste to Wonder to dispose of electronic waste from the offices. The order was in turn passed to a subcontractor, who was to take everything to a disposal facility.
However, a different company was intended for sensitive items – this pickup apparently did not take place. Thus, it might ultimately be the case that Darius Khan was able to buy the hardware at all.
In any case, investigations are currently underway against Khan. However, if the emails are authentic, there is a lot to suggest that he did not commit a crime (Kotaku).
Such curious and at the same time sensitive cases are not uncommon in the hardware sector, by the way. Just recently, an unusual developer graphics card made headlines on eBay, where it was also unclear how it ended up in private hands: Deal on eBay surprises users, orders a graphics card that is not even allowed to be sold
