[Anonymous]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090603/wl_asia_afp/malaysiacrimecounterfeitfilmanimaloffbeat_20090603122643
Anti-piracy dog sniffs out 35,000 illegal DVDs in Malaysia
KUALA
LUMPUR  – A DVD-sniffing anti-piracy dog named Paddy has uncovered a
huge cache of 35,000 discs in Malaysian warehouses, many destined for
export to Singapore, industry officials said on Wednesday.The black
Labrador helped enforcement officials who carried out raids last week
in southern Johor state which neighbours Singapore, the Motion Picture
Association (MPA) said in a statement.

Paddy was given to
Malaysia by the MPA to help close down piracy syndicates who churn out
vast quantities of illegal DVDs. The dog is specially trained to detect
chemicals in the discs.”Paddy led enforcement officers on a successful
weekend operation to shut down the supply lines of pirated movie DVDs
in the Malaysian state of Johor,” the MPA said in a
statement.”Post-raid investigations revealed that two of the targets
were actively involved in exporting pirated DVDs to Singapore,” it
added.The raids carried out by officials from the MPA and Malaysia’s
trade and consumer affairs ministry shut down six warehouses storing
pirated products, it said.

The MPA said just-released titles
such as “Terminator Salvation”, “Night at the Museum: Battle of the
Smithsonian”, “Angels and Demons” and “Star Trek” were among the movies
seized.”This is a clear signal to the pirates that we will not waver in
our efforts to shut them down,” said Mohamad Roslan Mahayudin,
director-general of enforcement with the Malaysian ministry.”We are
glad to hear that Paddy?s skills are being put to good use against the
large, organised network of pirates involved in exporting illegal
pirated DVDs to Singapore,” said Mike Ellis, the MPA’s Asia-Pacific
managing director.The MPA said its member companies lost 6.1 billion
dollars to worldwide piracy in 2005. Of that lost revenue, about 1.2
billion dollars came from piracy in the Asian region.

[Author]

June 5, 2009 at 3:15 PM