Customs officers from Special Task Force smashed a syndicate, which was suspected of exporting pirated DVDs of Japanese cartoon to the United States, and sold them in Hong Kong.
They seized about 240,000 pirated DVDs worth about $6 million.
About 4pm yesterday (January 25), Customs officers raided a pirated DVDs packaging and storage centre in a commercial unit in Kwun Tong, resulting in the seizure of about 230,000 pirated DVDs of Japanese cartoon, worth about $5.75 million. Two men and two women, aged between 28 and 43, were also arrested.
In follow-up investigation, Customs officers seized about 10,000 pirated DVDs of Japanese cartoon, worth about $0.25 million, from a consignment due for export to the United States during a search in a logistics company in Sha Tin today (January 26).
Customs officers believed that they had arrested the core members of a syndicate.
Under the Copyright Ordinance, anyone who is found in possession of any infringing article for commercial purpose is liable to prosecution. The maximum penalty for the offence is a fine of $50,000 per infringing article and four years' imprisonment.
Ends/Wednesday, January 26, 2005