A joint operative between police, prosecutors and anti-piracy teams in Colombia resulted in the seizure of 210,000 recorded music CD-Rs, along with nearly 100,000 counterfeit DVD-Rs, 1.1 million inlays and over 300,000 jewel boxes.
The seizures were the result of 90 search warrants, executed at San Andresito de la 20, a covered market of hundreds of vendor stalls near downtown Bogota. San Andresito’s commercial locales have been a focal point of Colombia’s anti-piracy strategy, headed by local record producer association Apdif. Four arrests were made during the operation.
In related news, on Dec. 23, Brazilian Customs and tax authorities in the port of Itajai seized 5.4 million blank CD-Rs and 1.9 million blank DVD-Rs from a ship coming from Taiwan. Officials said they believed the shipment belonged to the Law Kin Chong organization which has been investigated for the past two years for contraband activities.
Law Kin Chong is currently serving a four year prison sentence on bribery charges. On Dec. 20, 17 other members of his organization were arrested on various money laundering and tax evasion charges.
