Police arrest man, seize one million pirated VCDs
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)