Some 300 film titles were discovered, spanning from the latest children’s animated blockbuster, Ice Age 2, to pornography films featuring bestiality.
Experts said the piracy operation illustrated the growing trend for gangs to set up ever bigger DVD burning factories in the UK, after Customs officers successfully stemmed the flood of pirate films from Asia.
The factory, in a grimy industrial space in Leyton, east London, was more than twice as big an operation as any discovered in the UK previously. It was estimated that the Leyton set-up could have been capable of creating enough discs to yield a daily turnover of £250,000, selling on streets, pubs and market stalls for around £5 each.
Piracy costs the film industry an estimated £300m a year and police say it is increasingly linked to international organised crime, and the illegal drugs trade.
At the factory more than 500 DVD burner machines were discovered and five Chinese people arrested. A number of knives were also found at the factory; police said the pirate gangs were scared of being caught and also terrified of being robbed by other gangs.
The organisation had tipped off the police and trading standards about the factory after a vehicle suspected of transporting pirate films was seen in the vicinity.
Many of the new films were sourced by the pirates by using camcorders to film new releases in the US, or from illegal download sites.
Raymond Leinster, director-general of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (Fact) said: “In fact piracy robs people of jobs in the film industry … we are determined to work together with the police and other enforcement bodies to ensure that we continue to disrupt the supply chain and affect the distribution of counterfeit films across the UK.”
True or false?
1. As it’s become nearly impossible to get pirate DVDs in the UK from Asia, current trend suggests that the number of DVD burning factories set up in the UK will continue to grow.
2. The factory shut down had an estimated two times bigger operational capacity than all the other factories found together.
3. Only Chinese people worked in the factory.
4. Police found knives as the workers had suspected and prepared for the police attack.
5. Several films originally were recorded in American cinemas or downloaded from internet sites that don’t have the films’ rights.
Key:
1- T, 2- F, 3- T, 4- F, 5- T
BBC
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