Sting nets pirated cartoon discs

Customs seizes $310,000 in videos marketed on Web

A jobless man and his girlfriend who allegedly placed a list of more than 200 pirated Japanese cartoon movies on an internet auction site have been arrested in an undercover sting, a senior customs officer said yesterday.

An investigation revealed that the couple accepted more than 800 orders and had made about $50,000 in profit in the past six months, said Jimmy Tam Yat-keung, head of the Customs and Excise Department's copyright investigation division.

'Our inquiries showed that the pirated Japanese cartoon movies, which contained about 20 video discs each, were priced between $300 and $400 a set. It was sold at a net price,' he said.

'After placing orders by e-mail, the set of pirated video discs would be mailed to buyers. That system is to avoid us detecting them.'

After a three-month investigation, officers from customs' anti-internet-piracy team placed an order to be collected at North Point MTR station on Thursday afternoon.

The 28-year-old man was arrested when he allegedly took marked money from an undercover customs officer in exchange for three sets of Japanese cartoon video discs, Mr Tam said.