Dogs Lucky and Flo nab movie pirates

MUMBAI: Malaysian enforcement officers, with the assistance of two dogs – Lucky and Flo, who are trained to sniff optical discs, raided a suspect pirate optical disc production factory in Kuala Lumpur. They seized three optical disc replicating machines capable of producing at least 10.6 million pirated optical discs per year worth in excess of $21 million.

Lucky and Flo once again proved their mettle in the duo’s maiden factory raid. The world’s first dogs trained to sniff optical discs uncovered a hoard of pirated discs in the factory premises as well as in vehicles parked outside.

It took over 22 men from the Ministry of Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs (MDTCA) and Motion Picture Association (MPA) representatives to break down the factory doors. The authorities also detained four suspects found on the factory floor for further questioning. Preliminary investigations have revealed that a pirate syndicate had been running the operations at the factory for the last three months. They were able to mask the true nature of their operations by masquerading as a factory producing fertilizers. 300 sacks of fertilizers were piled outside the premises in an attempt to camouflage their illegal activities. They were however unable to fool the dogs.

Approximately 18,000 illegal discs were seized along with the three machines. Among the titles found were Hot Fuzz, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spiderman-3, Transformers and The Simpsons Movie.

“Lucky and Flo have done it once again. Their deployment in Malaysia has been a great success. And this is only because the MDTCA has and continues to show tremendous leadership in tackling the piracy problem. The Malaysian government’s aggressive enforcement measures send a clear message that piracy will not be tolerated. We therefore remain fully committed to support them in their operations” Since 13 March, 2007, Lucky and Flo have been working alongside Malaysian authorities in Johore, Kuala Lumpur and Penang.

They have been involved in several operations leading to the arrests of 26 people and seizures of over 1.6 million discs, 3 DVD replicating machines, 2 VCD machines and 97 CDR Burners,” said MPA senior vice president and regional director, Asia-Pacific Mike Ellis.