MUMBAI: The Alliance Against Copyright Theft (AACT), a coalition between Hollywood-Bollywood studios to fight the various forms of piracy in India, seized nearly 13,040 pirated DVDs and CDs in Mumbai and Aurangabad last week. Along with this nearly 31,000 inlay cards of newly released & unreleased movies were also captured.
AACT continues its tactic of conducting strategic raids on movie pirates throughout the country and has made 8 arrests, in areas like Andheri West, Mahim, Sion and Bhandup. In Aurangabad the raids took place at Pundlik Bazaar Road, where three accused were arrested. The DVD’S included recent releases like Shaitan, Bheja Fry 2, Ready and Bhindi Bazaar Inc.
An AACT spokesperson said, “It is important to us that we curb piracy in its initial stages. Over the past few months we have been able to reduce the availability of pirated CDs by conducting regular raids across the city. With many big movies coming up in the next few months, it is an ideal time for pirates to indulge in such activities. We have conducted a high number of raids in this month to ensure that new movies do not make it to roadside stalls selling pirated movies.”
In the month of June 2011, AACT seized a total of around 81,040 pirated DVDs of newly released movies like Always Kabhi Kabhi and Double Dhaamal worth Rs. 47.2 lakhs across Mumbai and Gujarat. During the same period AACT’s enforcement consultants, along with local police in various areas, also arrested 40 pirates. Also 13,209 pirated discs were seized in a music & video corner based in Oshiwara. The team also seized 4,718, 4,700 and 3,840 pirated discs in raids conducted in Andheri (W), Borivali (W) and Nagpada respectively during the month.
