Customs officers have arrested 22 people and seized 210,000 pirated film and musicdiscs from the Philippines worth an estimated $4.2 million in a series of raids.
The Customs and Excise Department said its investigation showed that a syndicate smuggles fake discs into Hong Kong to cater to Philippine domestic helpers. Officers are still looking for the Hong Kong mastermind of the
The seizure - the biggest of its kind - was made after the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry lodged a complaint with customs last month, saying pirated discs were being sold openly at shops in the World Wide House shopping arcade in Central.
About 120 customs officers raided 18 shops at the shopping centre and seized 5,700 pirated copies on Sunday.
Officers raided a factory in Western on Monday and seized a further 204,150 discs.
A total of 22 people were arrested, eight of them from the Philippines.