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Tip-off leads to R10m DVD bust
25/08/2007 17:13 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Gauteng police raided a counterfeit DVD syndicate and found approximately R10m worth of DVDs and equipment in a flat in Winchester Hills, south of Johannesburg on Saturday.
Three South African women and a man from Pakistan were arrested in the flat after an anonymous tip-off was sent to a media company's crime line.
Room after room in the flat was filled, not with furniture, but hi-tech computers and DVD-burning equipment.
The operation had facilities to burn 220 DVDs at the same time, as well as facilities for making covers. It apparently had been operating in the flat for three months.
An estimated 40 000 blank DVDs and about 65 000 counterfeit DVDs containing pornography, music and current movies were found.
Popular movie choices included The Bourne Ultimatum and The Simpsons Movie while music titles included Amazing Gospel Greats and Rebecca Malope.
Senior Superintendent Vish Naidoo said if any child pornography was found on the DVDs, the four would face charges relating to contraventions of the Childcare Act. This would be additional to the Copyright Act contraventions they already faced.
Links 'across our border'
"We are convinced they are just doing the spadework. This is a professional operation. This is not a backyard operation," said Naidoo.
"The thing is now to get to the syndicate leader."
Naidoo also said the magnitude of the "massive set-up" suggested it had links "across our border".
More arrests were expected in the next few days.
Naidoo said the bigger objective of the bust was letting criminals know that police had the support of the community at large.
"We have eyes and ears all over the country".
The four were expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate's Court on Monday.
Naidoo said the multimillion-rand equipment and DVDs would "almost certainly" be destroyed after the court case had been finished.
- SAPA
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