Raid in Indonesia busts pirate disc factory
12.08.2006
* Jakarta police take out plant with capacity to produce more than 700,000 pirate discs
* 21,000 counterfeit discs seized containing local music repertoire
Police in Jakarta have raided a pirate disc factory seizing discs and manufacturing equipment. Their suspicion was aroused after they stopped and searched a commercial van carrying a large number of pirate discs and traced its movements back to the plant.
The police found a concealed entrance to the hidden plant in an otherwise unremarkable industrial unit in the Pergudangan complex. This secret factory contained four lines of replicating machinery capable of producing a minimum of 40,000 finished discs per day.
Police seized 27,000 finished pirate VCDs and 500,000 unfinished discs as well as six stampers. In addition, half a million DVD substrates were recovered and there was enough stored polycarbonate present to produce an additional 700,000 discs.
Some 21,000 of the seized discs contained local music repertoire and the police found documentary evidence that the plant had produced a variety of other music titles since it was established in early 2006.
Five of those present were arrested for the operation of an unlicensed replicating facility and the production of pirate optical discs in the raid which was carried out by the Special Economic Crimes Unit of the Jakarta Polda Metro Jaya Police. The owner of the plant is an Indonesian national who has reportedly fled Jakarta.
Bob Youill, IFPI's regional anti-piracy coordinator for Asia, says: "This is a major blow to those who seek to make Indonesia a base for the production and distribution of pirate optical disc products. It is also a good day for local artists, whose repertoire was found on more than 20,000 pirate discs which, if sold, would have hit their legitimate sales. All credit is due to the professionalism and tenacity of the specialist unit of the Jakarta Police involved in this case."
Iain Grant, head of enforcement at IFPI, adds: "From an examination of the facility it is obvious that this was a sophisticated operation and a large-scale illegal replication facility that was established to produce a very significant quantity of pirate optical discs. The presence of a concealed hatch inside a nondescript cupboard indicates the plant owners were fully prepared for the possibility of a raid by the authorities."
Source: The Times
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