Record $11m haul of pirated discs seized in warehouse raid

A record haul of 220,000 pirated discs of Japanese and Korean television dramas and cartoons was seized in a Kwai Chung godown yesterday.

The $11 million consignment was discovered after customs officers spent 10 days following the alleged mastermind of a syndicate which smuggled the pirated copies into Hong Kong through courier companies. It is understood the haul came from Taiwan.

Twenty customs officers raided the third-floor warehouse in the On Fook Factory Building, in Kwai Fung Crescent, at midday when two men emerged with trolleys loaded with boxes of pirated discs.

Officers intercepted the pair, aged 32 and 40, and arrested the alleged mastermind, 47, in the godown.

The building was being used as a storage and packaging centre, said Roger Lo Kit-ming, divisional commander of the Customs Special Taskforce.

He said it was the largest seizure of pirated copies of Japanese cartoons and Korean television drama series in Hong Kong. 'It is about 10 times more than that seized in a single storage centre in the past,' he said.