Police Gatecrash 'Members Only' Pirate Operation
Monday, 3 November 2008
On 31 October, New South Wales Police, assisted by investigators from the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) and Music Industry Piracy Investigations (MIPI), raided a large DVD rental store in Sydney’s Homebush West where pirated movies and music DVDs were being sold to “members only.”
As a result of the raid, police seized over 17,500 pirated movie and music DVDs with an estimated street value of $140,000 and a DVD burner operation consisting of 20 burners, along with computer equipment and printers. The DVD burner operation had the capability of producing over 500,000 pirated DVDs a year.
Movie titles discovered during the raid included illegal copies of “Max Payne”, “Body of Lies” and “Babylon AD”, all of which are currently showing in Australian cinemas and are not yet legitimately available on DVD. Pirated music CDs from popular artists such as “Coldplay” and “Kylie”, were also seized.
The raid follows an intensive investigation by Police and industry investigators, which confirmed the piracy operation was being controlled and managed from what appeared to be a legitimate DVD rental store. Industry investigators will allege that the store sold pirated DVDs ‘under the counter’ to “members” able to show an exclusive “membership” card.
"The tactics used by this DVD piracy syndicate show that the people behind it know what they were doing is illegal. However this raid shows efforts to hide pirate operations are futile; AFACT and the Police will find them and bring them before the courts,” said Neil Gane, AFACT Director of Operations. “Movie piracy robs local businesses of a livelihood as well as the capacity to both employ young Australians and help keep youth entertained and off the streets.”
“This underground operation shows the extent to which criminals will go to trade off the hard work of creators,” said Dean Mitchell, MIPI Investigations Manager. “Thieves who think they can avoid detection should reconsider”.
A man in his 40s is helping Police with their enquiries and is expected to be charged with offences under the Copyright and Trademark Acts.
Maximum penalties for copyright crimes are $60,500 and/or up to five years jail
per offence. Members of the public can help police identify and shut down film and music piracy operations by ringing Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or going to www.moviepiracy.org.au or www.mipi.com.au. Consumer guides to help members of the public identify whether or not DVD or CDs are pirated are available to view and download from www.afact.com.au and www.mipi.com.au.
< back