Policing Polish Pirates

The news from the International Federation Of Phonographic Industries is beginning to read more like gangster movie scripts, with the latest reporting that Polish police have rounded up a CD piracy ring armed with handguns, a machine gun and a sawn-off shotgun.

Eight people suspected of involvement in the smuggling and manufacture of pirate CDs and DVDs were arrested during a January 16 raid in Warsaw. Polish border guards also seized equipment used for producing illegal discs, including computers, two tower burners and two high-quality printers, plus 66,000 discs and 108,000 inlay cards.

Four of the eight arrested suspects have been remanded in custody for three months, while the other four have been released pending further investigation.

Border police from the Klodzko region carried out the raid because they suspected it of smuggling music and films believed to be produced in Russia and Ukraine, as well as producing their own counterfeit discs. The confiscated CDs and DVDs are believed to have been destined for the German market.

"These raids clearly show that music and film piracy in Poland is tightly controlled by organised criminal gangs with an international reach," said IFPI head of enforcement Len Hynds.

"The Polish border police have done a fantastic job in breaking up this gang, but we are aware that there are others out there that we need to tackle."