Malaysian police smash major pirate CD ring

Kuala Lumpur, 13th July 2009

Police officers from the Commercial Crime Division of the Royal Malaysian Police raided a house in the Kuala Lumpur district of Pandan Indah on 8th July. The team discovered over 170,000 pirate CDs, including more than 10,000 counterfeit Michael Jackson albums. Three people caught packing the pirate CDs into plastic covers were arrested during the raid.

Initial investigations reveal that the pirate operation was shipping counterfeit CDs to distributors elsewhere in Kuala Lumpur and across Malaysia.

The Recording Industry Association of Malaysia (RIM) supplied anti-piracy experts, led by Abdul Rahman Ghazali, the organisation's operations director, to assist in the raid.

"I believe that some of the CDs may have been replicated by licensed plants in Malaysia as the SID code on them had been obliterated," said Abdul Rahman Ghazali, "Samples of these discs will be sent to the Government Chemistry Department for forensic examination in order to identify the culprits."

All three suspects have been detained for further investigation. They are expected to be charged under The Copyright Act (1987) this week.

For further information contact:
IFPI London - Alex Jacob
Tel: +44 (0)20 7878 7940
Email: alex.jacob@ifpi.org