p2pnet.net News:- More than 140,000 CDs and DVDs containing Indian music and movies were seized in 13 simultaneous raids in The Netherlands, says Big Music’s BPI (British Phonographic Industry).

Most of the product seized in the raids is believed to have originated in Pakistan, “one of the major sources of illegal copies of popular Indian films and music,” it says.

The raids involved around 100 officers from the Dutch fiscal police, “supported” by IFPI “investigators,” Big Music’s Dutch RIAA, BREIN, and the BPI which says it suspected the discs were smuggled into The Netherlands via airline hand luggage.

“At one of the shops over 15 empty small suitcases were found, one full of product waiting to be unpacked,” it says, going on:

“Pakistan is one of the largest manufacturers and exporters of pirate discs in the world, exporting tens of millions of pirate CDS and DVDS annually. Exports are estimated at over 13 million discs every month – a quantity exceeding the demand of many developed music markets.”

Bollywood piracy in the UK has been estimated by some sources to be as high as 70%, and this result comes less than a fortnight after the UK courts handed a three year jail sentence to one of the UK’s most notorious Bollywood music and film pirates, Jay Buhecha, it says.

“The BPI launched an investigation into his role in a Bollywood piracy scam that earned an estimated £26,000 a month at its peak.”

The BPI and its brother alphabet organizations should spend a lot more time, money and manpower on this kind of bust rather than waste resources trying to sue disenchanted customers into buying ‘product’.

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