TWO men said to have taken part in an allegedly illegal data protection operation involving tens of thousands of victims, appeared before Burnley Magistrates.

Father-of-three Mohammed Khatana, 43, and James Stuart, 53, are accused of duping cash out of businesses throughout the country through an official-sounding organisation.

They were both remanded in custody until May 20 when they will face a preliminary hearing at Burnley Crown Court.

Khatana of Hawkswood Gardens, Brierfield, and Stuart, of Leveson Crescent, Balsall Common, Solihull, West Midlands, are charged that on or between August 1, 2003, and May 11, 2004, at Nelson and elsewhere they conspired together to dishonestly obtain by deception a quantity of money by purporting to be the Data Protection Agency.

Khatana also faces an allegation that on or between the same dates at Nelson and elsewhere he concealed criminal property, namely a quantity of money, by means of using the services of Stuart, who held a bank account in the name of Adrian Colin Belford, trading as the Data Protection Agency, to receive, hold and transfer the money.

Stuart is also accused that at Solihull and elsewhere he became concerned in an arrangement which he knew or suspected facilitated the acquisition, retention, use or control of criminal property, namely a quantity of money, by or on behalf of Mohammed Khatana.

The defendants were among four people, including two others from Nelson, who were detained after police searched 12 homes and businesses across the country on Wednesday.

Stuart was arrested in Solihull. Six addresses in Nelson were searched along with one in Dewsbury, two in Sheffield, two in Rochdale and one in the West Midlands.

The other two, a man and a woman, have been questioned by police and released on bail until September pending further inquiries.