Porn movies found inside covers of children’s films

PARENTS were yesterday warned to be vigilant after pornographic DVDs and videos were found inside lookalike Disney movie sleeves following a garda-led raid on an open-air market.

Over 4,000 DVDs were seized, which in addition to the pornographic films also included counterfeits of current American box-office hits Dreamgirls and Apocalypto, as well as Irish acts Pat Shortt and Brendan Grace.

Officers were taken aback at how the stalls had been set out, with pornographic movies displayed side by side with Disney films. They also revealed that some of the cases which had picture sleeves of children’s movies in fact contained pornographic DVDs.

“We have found porn inside the cover of what looks like Walt Disney material, so parents as well as their children could be in for a shock as a result of buying this stuff,” a garda said.

The picture sleeve inserts are also bootleg copies and none of the DVDs has any writing on to indicate what movie has been copied onto it. They look like blank DVDs but in fact contain counterfeit copies of popular movies. They sell for as little as €5 and if the goods seized had been bona fide they would have been worth up to €95,000 in total.

The market, in Drogheda, Co Louth, is popular with locals and sells a wide range of local produce but is also known for its pirated DVD stalls. Sources suggest that the people involved in this racketeering can make up to €1,000 a week from this market alone, with some criminals pocketing up to €10,000 per week.

There is believed to be at least one major counterfeit production centre in the north-east, but the huge profits to be made mean that even if this is dismantled, the costs of setting up another will be quickly recouped.

Gardaí in Drogheda are preparing a file for the DPP after the raid and they anticipate court appearances will follow later in the year.

This was the fourth consecutive weekend that those selling counterfeit goods have been targeted by gardaí, along with officers from INFACT, the Irish National Federation Against Copyright Theft, and officials from IMRO, the Irish Music Rights Organisation.