MUMBAI: A team of 15 enforcement officers from the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Co-operative and Consumerism (MDTCC) assisted by two investigators from the Malaysian Federation Against Copyright Theft (MFACT) representing the Motion Picture Association (MPA), raided an unlicensed replicating facility in Balakong, Selangor yesterday afternoon. They seized one DVD replicating line, an offset printer and a metalizing and bonding machine during the raid.
Acting on investigations stemming from a tip-off, the team from MDTCC formerly known as the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) raided the premises located at Kampung Kenangan in the Balakong Industrial Area about 25km from Kuala Lumpur.
A group of dogs were guarding the premises, the entrance of which was equipped with CCTVs. On entering the premises, the raiding party found the machines in operation but no one on the factory floor.
The enforcement team seized an estimated 2,000 pirated DVDs of 4-in-1 movies, TV series and games in spindles of 100 ready for delivery. Recent titles among them include Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Watchmen and Race to Witch Mountain. Silk screens of the titles such as Night at the Museum 2, Land of the Lost, and Public Enemies and more than 100 boxes of DVD casings were also found on the premises.
Conservatively, the factory line was capable of manufacturing more than 3.5 million pirated optical discs annually, generating illegal revenues in excess of US$9 million.
"Today’s successful raid and seizure of a DVD replicating line is a continuation of the Ministry’s efforts in addressing source piracy in Malaysia, with an emphasis on addressing the proliferation of replicating operations of pirated optical discs. We are happy with the results and hope that the flow of such information which resulted in yesterday’s successful raid will continue. This is a clear signal to the pirates that we will not waver in our efforts to shut them down," said MDTCC director-general Enforcement Department Mohd. Roslan bin Mahayudin.
"These pirates are operating without any regard for, and worse, exploiting cinemas and movie DVD retailers in Malaysia during these tough economic times when so many jobs are at stake. We commend the MDTCC for keeping up the pressure on such criminals as we support their endeavors to tighten the screws on such illegitimate business activity that takes jobs away from Malaysians," said MPA president and managing director Asia-Pacific Mike Ellis.
