"Piracy lab" raided in Western Sydney

The New South Wales Police has raided two residential premises in an anti-counterfeit operation, finding over 6,500 pirated DVD movies.

The raid was assisted by investigators acting on behalf of the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT).

"On 4 September, Green Valley Police served warrants on residential premises in Mount Pritchard and Cabramatta, shutting down two illegal movie piracy labs operating 41 DVD burners," an AFACT statement said.

The AFACT said the DVD burners had the capability of producing over one million illegal discs a year worth a street value of over five million dollars.

"Thanks to excellent work by officers from the Green Valley local area command, these illegal piracy operations have been effectively shut down, cutting off the supply of illegal discs to movie pirates operating at weekend markets, and helping to protect jobs and honest, hard-working local businesses," said Neil Gane, executive director of AFACT.

The first raid found illegal copies of the Disney Pixar movie "UP", which was only released in Australian cinemas on September 3 and was yet to be released legitimately on DVD. The second raid found illegal copies of "District 9" and "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra".

A 45-year-old man was "assisting Police with their enquiries" into the piracy operations and was expected to face multiple copyright and trademark charges.

AFACT said penalties for copyright crimes could see criminals fined upto $60,500 and/or five years imprisonment per offence.