Police arrest man, seize one million pirated VCDs

JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta Police Mobile Detectives (Resmob) raided a building on Jl. Pangera Jayakarta in West Jakarta on Monday, arresting a suspect for the possession of one million pirated video compact discs (VCDs).

City police chief of detectives Col. Alex Bambang Riatmodjo identified the suspect as Yoel Setiawan Tedianto, 30, a resident of Bekasi. He was arrested on suspicion of selling pirated VCDs in Greater Jakarta.

The VCDs were of western and pornographic movies, and of popular Indonesian singers, including Dewi Yull and Titiek Puspa. In total the VCDs were valued at about Rp 5 billion (US$667,000).

"It's shameful. The record companies and producers of most of these songs spend hundreds of millions of rupiah in production, operational costs and the shooting of music videos. They get nothing in return because of these pirated VCDs.

"The pirates just produce these cheap VCDs ... these VCDs are allegedly produced in a factory in Singapore, each for Rp 3,000. They are sold here on the streets for Rp 5,000 each," Alex said.

The chief of the Indonesian Tape Recording Business Association (Asiri), Rinto Harahap, said the confiscation of the VCDs proved that music production companies here were losing billions of rupiah through piracy.

"We just hope the police will get hold of those running the factory which produces this trash ... I don't care whether it's in Singapore or here in the capital. They just must get these pirates," Rinto said.

It was suggested to Alex that police destroy the pirated VCDs to prove to city residents that "the VCDs would not fall into the wrong hands". Alex said he would consider the suggestion.

Mobile Detectives chief Capt. Syafi'i said on Monday the police would soon detain Yoel's business associates.

Yoel's arrest was the result of a tip from a man who resides in the Gandaria Selatan subdistrict of South Jakarta. The man filed a complaint with the police on Monday, accusing Yoel Setiawan Tedianto of distributing pirated VCDs in Pangeran Jayakarta.

City police acted on the report, arrested Yoel and confiscated the pirated VCDs as evidence.

Late last month, Central Jakarta Police officers arrested Arisman, 40, at his house on Jl. Dwi Warna in Central Jakarta for possession of some one million pirated VCDs, CD-ROMs and PlayStation cartridges, as well as six computers the suspect allegedly used to duplicate the VCDs.

The police also arrested eight others who were allegedly involved in the production of the pirated VCDs. (ylt/lup)