Andre Yoskowitz
24 Jan 2008 16:03
Melbourne police announced today the busting of a $12 million-a-year DVD piracy ring that had been operating in Australia for years.
Police announced that shops had been set up at houses in west Melbourne and customers chose from thousands of pirated DVDs via catalog. The homes where raided early Tuesday.
The two owners of the houses were arrested and charged after the authorities seized 400,000 pirates DVDs, CDs and video games. 100 DVD burners were also seized along with $10,000 in cash.
The people arrested, a man and woman in their mid 40s, were charged with infringing copyright.
Police Commander Terry Purton went as far to say that DVD piracy was so lucrative that criminals were moving away from drug trafficking and into DVD piracy.
"They are making an obscene profit," Commander Purton said.
"They are producing DVDs for 20ยข and selling them for $10."
The Commander also said that one of the houses had been raided in November 2007 and that he was surprised to see it back in full production. The police were notified by neighbors who believed that the house was being used to deal drugs.
"They thought with the increased traffic, people coming and going, that they were selling drugs," Commander Purton said. "But people selling these DVDs are making more money than what drug dealers are."
"It's organized crime and it impacts on society, on local video stores and the film and music industries," Commander Purton added.
"Everyone thinks there's nothing wrong with buying pirated DVDs, but overall it has a substantial impact and these laboratories are starting to crop up."
"As time goes by, people in these laboratories get better at what they do," he finished.