MUMBAI: On 20 November, a team of nine Malaysian police officers, on a routine inspection, uncovered a clandestine factory located in a palm oil plantation in Kluang, Johor. What gave the factory away was the strong polycarbonate smell detected by the police officers. Polycarbonate is the material used for the production of optical discs.

Four men aged between 20 and 60, believed to be workers operating on the replicating machines were arrested. Police also seized the two DVD replicating machines found on the premises, two printing machines, 6,200 pirated DVDs and 3,000 kg of polycarbonate. Among the MPA member companies’ titles found in the factory were the Bee Movie and American Gangsters.

The DVD replicating machines were capable of producing over seven million pirated optical discs per year generating a potential value of US$20 million. “In the past week, our enforcement officers have seized 414 burners and two replicating machines used to produced pirated optical discs” said Tuan Iskandar Halim Sulaiman, Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer. “We will not stop until we have shut down every single pirate operation in Malaysia.”

Malaysian Federation Against Copyright Theft (MFACT) Director Nor Hayati Yahaya, whose officers were on the ground to assist the police, praised the efforts of the enforcement agencies and noted, “So far this year, a total of 17 replicating machines have been seized. These machines running ten hours a day, seven days a week would have produced 60 million pirated discs in a year.” MFACT represents the Motion Picture Association to protect the film and television industry in Malaysia.