Rich haul of pirated DVDs siezed by central crime branch

Chennai: In a major haul, the video piracy cell of the central crime branch police seized '71 lakh worth pirated film DVDs from a godown in Kolathur on Thursday. Two persons were arrested for stocking the DVDs of recently released movies Romeo Juliet, Inimey Ippadidhan, 36 Vayadhinile and several others meant to be supplied to different parts of the state.

A special team of the video piracy cell raided the godown at Vijaya Nagar in Kolathur based on specific information on Wednesday night. During the raid, it was found that the owner of the lodge had stocked thousands of DVDs of new releases and old Tamil movies meant for sale in the state.

“There were 15,247 DVDs of almost all recent releases and old movies. The recovered property must be worth around Rs 71 lakh,” said a police officer. Probe revealed that the DVDs were made in neighbouring states like Andhra Pradesh and Kerala and smuggled into the city. “They would then be stocked in this godown and would be sold to sellers at the notorious Rattan Bazaar, Burma Bazaar and other areas in the city,” the officer added.

Police said that the godown owner, K. Kennedy (41), of Nakkeran Nagar, Kodungayur and his assistant, R. Balamurugan (22), of B.V. Colony, Vyasarpadi have been involved in this illegal activity for about a year now.