Gardaí seize bogus DVDs

GARDAÍ have seized more than 2,000 DVDs from premises in a Cork town as part of a probe into the multi-million euro counterfeit and piracy racket.

Valued at an estimated €50,000, it is one of the single largest such seizures in the region for several years.

The DVDs – including some yet-to-be-released movie titles and over 100 pornographic titles – were seized in two separate raids on premises in Macroom at around 5pm on Monday.

The swoops were carried out under warrant by gardaí from Macroom, who were accompanied by an official from the Irish National Federation Against Copyright Theft (INFACT).

They visited a business premises in the town centre and seized some material before raiding a private house later.

In total, over 2,300 DVDs were seized. There were no arrests but gardaí say they are following a number of lines of enquiry.

The DVDs will be catalogued and viewed individually in the coming weeks.

They will also be forensically analysed to establish whether they were downloaded from the internet or sourced elsewhere.

A file will then be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Brian Finnegan, the director general of INFACT, the body funded by the Irish film industry to combat piracy, described the seizure as both “significant”.

He said he was surprised at the sheer quantity of material seized, the location of the seizure, and the amount of pornographic material involved. He urged people to avoid buying counterfeit DVDs in the run-up to Christmas, particularly children’s animation titles.