POLICE raided three houses on Phuket early today and snapped up their biggest yet haul of music and movie pirate CDs - along with the equipment for making them.
Six workers were cutting and copying the CDs in a house-to-house production line when police surrounded the buildings and arrested then all, officers said.
The police swoop on the houses at Khao Keaw, the Phuket City suburb near the British International School, was led by the former Phuket Police Commander Major General Apirak Hongtong, who is now based with Region 8 HQ in the province of Surat Thani.
''Phuket is in a red zone area and many national governments urge us to crack down on the breaches of copyright,'' he said. ''This time we have caught the makers, rather than the vendors.''
The raid took place at 4am today in coordination with police officers supplied by Major General Apirak's successor, Major General Pekad Tantipong.
The police nabbed 12,000 copy CDs, seized four pick-ups, two motorcycles with sidecars, 30 market racks and equipment, large speakers, and a big quantity of computers and copying hardware.
The key copying machine, capable of writing many CDs at once, was valued at 30 to 40 million baht. Copies cost seven baht to produce and were sold for 60 baht, Major General Apirak said.
Going with police on today's raid was a representative from GMM Grammy, Us Sangjid, who was keen to preserve the company's copyrights. He said the 12,000 captured pirate CDs would have cost the company five million baht.
The six workers who confessed to taking part in the operation were Sompak Tansing, 52, Santhi Tonsing, 29, Proamoon Kuthong, 46, Somsak Pangmeaug, 29, Suchet Chookert, 27, and Boonyarit Kongrak, 35.
They face hefty fines - the minimum is 100,000 baht - and jail terms.
Two Tourists Killed as Phuket Jet-Ski Hits CatamaranSix workers were cutting and copying the CDs in a house-to-house production line when police surrounded the buildings and arrested then all, officers said.
The police swoop on the houses at Khao Keaw, the Phuket City suburb near the British International School, was led by the former Phuket Police Commander Major General Apirak Hongtong, who is now based with Region 8 HQ in the province of Surat Thani.
''Phuket is in a red zone area and many national governments urge us to crack down on the breaches of copyright,'' he said. ''This time we have caught the makers, rather than the vendors.''
The raid took place at 4am today in coordination with police officers supplied by Major General Apirak's successor, Major General Pekad Tantipong.
The police nabbed 12,000 copy CDs, seized four pick-ups, two motorcycles with sidecars, 30 market racks and equipment, large speakers, and a big quantity of computers and copying hardware.
The key copying machine, capable of writing many CDs at once, was valued at 30 to 40 million baht. Copies cost seven baht to produce and were sold for 60 baht, Major General Apirak said.
Going with police on today's raid was a representative from GMM Grammy, Us Sangjid, who was keen to preserve the company's copyrights. He said the 12,000 captured pirate CDs would have cost the company five million baht.
The six workers who confessed to taking part in the operation were Sompak Tansing, 52, Santhi Tonsing, 29, Proamoon Kuthong, 46, Somsak Pangmeaug, 29, Suchet Chookert, 27, and Boonyarit Kongrak, 35.
They face hefty fines - the minimum is 100,000 baht - and jail terms.
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"The key copying machine, capable of writing many CDs at once, was valued at 30 to 40 million baht." What? Somebody's adding a few extra zeros to that pricetag. A CD copier for a million US dollars sounds very, very silly.
"He said the 12,000 captured pirate CDs would have cost the company five million baht." Again, the math seems very very silly. This man is assuming that for every 60 baht CD or DVD that isn't sold, someone will instead buy a 400 baht legitimate CD. Ummm...no, that's not the way real life works, mister! People have a limited budget and buy bargains...people do NOT simply make a list of music, movies, or software that they've GOTTA have no matter what the budget. That's... silly, wishful thinking on the part of the software and entertainment industry.
Posted by Tired of the act on December 1, 2010 21:06