Police seize pirated CDs, nab alleged manufacturers
Police seize pirated CDs, nab alleged manufacturers
Evi Mariani, Jakarta
The Jakarta Police confiscated 273,000 pirated video compact
discs (VCDs) and audio compact discs (CDs) from three locations
in Greater Jakarta over the weekend, police chief Insp. Gen.
Firman Gani revealed on Wednesday.
"In subsequent raids, we also detained seven suspects of
copyrights violations," he told a media conference.
Detective top officer Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang explained
that the discs contained music and movies both from local and
international industries.
The operation was based on complaints filed by the Recording
Industry Association (ASIRI) and the Video Film Importers
Association (Asirevi) in July, suspecting distribution of pirated
VCDs, CDs, and DVDs, a violation to Law No. 19/2002 on
copyrights.
The police investigation led them to a medium-scale CD
duplicating industry in Tangerang, where the police confiscated
12 machines, including machines to produce blank CDs and Digital
Versatile Discs (DVDs) from high grade polycarbonate or raw
plastic.
The manufacturer allegedly belonged to PT Dimension Multi
Digital Star.
The police arrested the company's director Ati Susanti, the
assistant to the director A Siung and company manager Jenvanter
Silalahi.
Along with the machines, the police also seized 47,000 pirated
VCDs, CDs and DVDs, 11 tons of polycarbonate, a minivan and a
computer.
In the next operation, the police raided PT Karya Guna Sukses
Pratama, also in Tangerang, confiscated 3,000 pirated VCDs and
CDs, six duplicating machines, eight kilograms of polycarbonate
and a minivan.
The police arrested its president director Slamet Wijoyo and
commissioner Edy.
The third raid was at a warehouse in Pademangan, North
Jakarta, where the two companies stocked their production. From
the warehouse police confiscated 223,000 pirated discs and a
minivan and detained two other people: Slamet Riyadi, a driver,
and Sularso, a packaging worker.
The discs contained video clips of national musicians like
Iwan Fals, Ebiet G. Ade, national movies, TV series, and Indian
movies, the police revealed.
Also attending the media conference, Arnel Affandi of ASIRI
said music piracy had caused a state loss of an estimated Rp 1.19
trillion rupiah from the potential value-added tax in 2003 alone.
"Meanwhile, the national music industry suffered losses of an
estimated Rp 16 trillion in 2003 because of piracy," he added.
He lauded the police for the operation, saying that this was
the first time the police ever confiscated a DVD duplicating
machine.
Although there had been similar operations, the prosecution of
such case was mostly unheard by the public.
"Since early this year, we have detected that many of the
pirated DVDs on sale in Indonesia were no longer imported," Arnel
said.