Police Bust Pirate Plant

Dutch police have busted a pirate CD and DVD plant in Velddriel that’s said to have been capable of churning out 900 films an hour.

Apart from seizing a press set up to make illegal copies of films including the new "Die Hard," "Ocean’s Thirteen" and "The Rise Of The Silver Surfer," the police arrested the only person found at the site during the September 11 raid.

Officers also discovered discs that formed part of an order for thousands of pirated CDs featuring a compilation of chart music.

Forensic experts working for the International Federation Of Phonographic Industries believe the press comes from a legitimate DVD plant that was previously declared bankrupt.

"This action shows that piracy of physical CDs and DVDs is still an illegal and profitable business in the Netherlands and a big problem for film and music producers, even if Internet piracy gets more headlines," said Tim Kuik, director of BREIN, the Dutch anti-piracy group whose complaints sparked off the raid.

BREIN estimates that such organised piracy accounts for an estimated 10 percent of the Netherlands’ physical piracy problem.

IFPI chairman and chief exec John Kennedy said, "This is not a petty crime, this is serious organised crime and it is important that the public understands that, when they buy pirate product, they are sending cash to organised criminals who are almost certainly involved in other areas of serious criminal activity."