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SCMP Reporter

Pirated video CD retailers are expected to feel the pinch after the SAR's largest pirated disc syndicate was smashed at a remote factory in Lau Fau Shan, near Deep Bay, yesterday.

 Nine suspected syndicate members, aged between 23 and 53, were arrested, including the alleged ring leader.

 They were all released on $30,000 bail.

 The haul of $48 million worth of discs came after the factory - a converted village warehouse disguised with roller-shutters - was raided following a two-month operation involving 120 officers. Customs officers seized 1.6 million VCDs and compact discs and impounded three production lines from the factory, believed to be a major supplier of pirated discs.

 Several Hollywood films yet to be released in Hong Kong were in production - Lake Placid, Sixth Sense, Summer of Sam and Mystery Men.

 'This [syndicate] was very well organised because members took care of the production as well as transportation to the warehouses,' Johnny Chow Wing-keung, head of the Intellectual Property Investigation Bureau, said.

 'They had their own staff doing the packaging to prevent information leaking out. We've uprooted a very sophisticated syndicate.

 'During a 24-hour period, 60,000 optical discs could be manufactured on the three production lines.'  The syndicate worked in 12-hour shifts at the secluded property.

 Motion Picture Association director Sam Ho Wai-hung said: 'There's an increasing trend of having these types of activities in remote villages where it's difficult for authorities to observe their activities. Certainly there's an organised crime element for them to have been able to invest so much.'  There were three production lines in the factory and also four separate warehouses in Tsuen Wan and Kwai Chung.

 So far this year, 8.8 million pirated discs worth $160 million have been seized and 1,381 suspects arrested.

 Eight unlicensed disc factories have been raided and 12 production lines impounded. Last year, Customs seized 39 million pirated discs worth $960 million.



Huge pirate disc ring smashed