Malaysian cops bust second pirated factory

MUMBAI: Malaysia‘s anti-piracy authorities raided an unlicensed optical disc production factory, seizing two VCD replicating machines capable of producing over seven million pirated optical discs per year with a potential revenue of over US$20 million. The factory is the second to be raided in Johor in four days.

This raid took place 14 km away from the 20 November factory raid and was a result of a tip off from an informant. No one was arrested in this raid. The raiding party also seized 50 silkscreens of various movie titles, 200 DVD movie stampers and 500 music CDs. Among the movie stampers seized were MPA member company titles including Ghost Rider, Happy Feet, Flag of Our Fathers and Eragon as well as Chinese and Korean movie titles.

It is believed that the pirate disc syndicate had been running operations at the factory, situated in the middle of a palm oil estate for several months. The strong fertilizer smell from the estate enabled them to mask the true nature of their operations.

“Two factories and two burner labs raided in a span of two weeks is a real significant success for the Malaysian Police and the Enforcement Division of Ministry of Domestic Trade & Consumer Affairs,” said Malaysian Federation Against Copyright Theft, Director, Nor Hayati Yahaya, representing the Motion Picture Association in Malaysia.