Over 21,000 pirated CDs seized in Punjab, 16 held
By IANSFriday, May 14, 2010
CHANDIGARH - Punjab Police have arrested 16 people and seized over 21,180 pirated CDs and DVDs from their possession, oficials of the Indian Music Industry (IMI) and police said here Friday.
On a tip-off from the IMI, police conducted 16 mobile chip anti-piracy raids Thursday and Friday at several places across the state. Pirated CDs, mostly of new films, were seized during the raids.
The raids were conducted in Ludhiana, Amritsar, Faridkot, Mohali, Ropar, Batala and Barnala, IMI officials said.
The raids led to the seizure of a massive quantity of pirated material, including 11,500 inlay cards, mobile memory chips, CDs, MP-3s, DVDs, VCDs, DVD writers, card readers and other equipment.
The police have arrested 16 persons involved in the business of piracy.
Over 7,000 pirated CDs were seized with other material and 14 people were arrested in anti-piracy raids last month in Punjab.
The police in March this year recovered over 5,900 pirated compact discs of new films and arrested 21 people in this connection.
IMI officials said the Bollywood film industry was suffering a loss of Rs.6 billion annually due to piracy. They added that new formats of piracy, like mobile chip piracy, were leading to an estimated loss of another Rs.3 billion.
