Police seize 100,000 pirated discs in Glodok

JAKARTA (JP): The police seized about 100,000 illegal video compact discs, laser discs, audio compact discs and digital video discs in a raid on a shopping plaza in the Glodok commercial district Tuesday.

The raid was conducted by the police economic detective division and officials from the Ministry of Information.

Col. S. Sidi of the national police information service said the merchandise would be valued at about Rp 300 million (US$37,500) if value-added tax was included.

Pirated video discs sell here for about Rp 15,000 each, compared to Rp 35,000 for an original.

The raid, which began at 4:30 p.m. and spanned three and a half hours, involved 14 police officers and eight officials from the Ministry of Information. They raided five shops.

Sidi would not disclose the names of two shops but said they were located on the first floor of Glodok Plaza in West Jakarta.

The other three shops, which he identified as Fantasy, SPDU and Sangaji, were located on the second and third floors.

He said the shop owners were not present when the officers arrived.

"Currently, we're questioning about 12 of the shopkeepers. We will summon the owners of the shops soon for further investigation," he said.

Police have yet to determine if the suspects replicated the discs themselves. No duplicating machines were found in the shops, Sidi said.

The suspects may be charged under Article 44 of Law No. 12/1997 on intellectual property rights and Law No. 8/1992 on motion pictures, he said.

The 1997 law mandates a maximum penalty of seven years in jail and/or a Rp 100 million fine for those found guilty of counterfeiting a product.

It also carries a maximum of five years' imprisonment and/or Rp 50 million fine for selling pirated goods.

Among the discs confiscated were recent Hollywood releases such as Titanic, Tomorrow Never Dies, As Good As It Gets and Amistad.

Audio compact discs confiscated in the raid contained songs by foreign singers like Mariah Carey, Bon Jovi and Metallica, and local entertainers, such as Papa T. Bob and actors from the popular TV series Jin dan Jun.

The owners of the shops were also suspected of distributing a counterfeit version of Aqua's house music and techno album, Dr. Jones.

According to Dimas Wahab, the chairman of the Indonesian Recording Industry Association (ASIRI), 40 percent of all confiscated VCDs were pornographic movies.

Most were probably copied in foreign countries, he said.

He said those involved in the business of pirated goods raked in huge profits by selling them well below the standard market prices.

"We can't sell the VCDs for less than Rp 30,000 because we have to cover numerous expenses, like production costs, artist royalties and the Rp 3,000 value-added tax for each copy," Dimas said. (edt)