Sao Paulo pirates hit by raids

Rio de Janeiro, 4 April 2007

Sao Paulo police have worked with anti-piracy specialists from the music and film industries to crack an organised criminal gang. IFPI and MPA, which represent the recording and film industries worldwide, supported the police in raids on four properties that were being used to manufacture counterfeit discs. The authorities seized 200 burners and over 30,000 CD-Rs and DVD-Rs. The investigation into the group, which supplied counterfeit discs throughout metropolitan Sao Paulo, continues and further arrests are expected in the near future.

Raul Vazquez, head of IFPI's Latin America Office, says: "Congratulations to the specialist intellectual property rights unit of the Sao Paulo State Police on a job well done and to the local music and film associations of APDIF and ADEPI for helping to uncover the activities of this criminal gang."