On 22 January, Victorian Police, assisted by the Australian Federal Police and investigators from Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT), raided a home in Sunshine North in Melbourne’s western suburbs, seizing over 250,000 pirated DVDs and 100 DVD burners.
Police raided the Sunshine North residence after complaints from the public alerted them to frequent suspicious activity occurring at the premises. A 49-year-old male is currently assisting police with their inquiries.
The haul included latest AFACT member company movies including American Gangster, I am Legend, and Alvin and the Chipmunks which have just been released in Australian cinemas, and are not yet legitimately available on DVD.
Information attained at the scene by police resulted in further search warrants being executed later that same day at two residential premises in St Albans in Melbourne’s western suburbs where 70 DVDR burners and an estimated 150,000 pirated DVD’s were seized at one of the addresses. These premises had been raided by the Victoria Police and AFACT investigators on 20th November last year where another large illegal DVD burning operation was uncovered and close to 200,000 pirated DVDs were seized.
The two burner labs, running 170 burners 10 hours per day, seven days per week, were capable of producing over 4 million DVDs a year with an estimated street value of over A$12 million.
‘This case marks the start of AFACT’s major crackdown on burner labs. The size of this illegal operation provides a clear example of the economic damage movie pirate syndicates wreak on legitimate Australian businesses producing and distributing movies and TV shows. Movie pirates don’t care whose interests they damage in their search for illegal gains’, said Neil Gane, Director of Operations of AFACT.
‘Movie pirate syndicates have no qualms about where they operate. They will bring their illegal operations to your neighborhood unless you put a stop to it,’ said Gane.
Members of the public can report movie piracy to AFACT’s own anti-piracy hotline: 1800 251 996.
[release from AFACT]