Today the FIOD-ECD (Dutch Investigation Department of Taxes) announced that they dismantled an illegal DVD press yesterday. It was located in Velddriel, Gelderland, The Netherlands. The DVD factory burned illegal movies and music videos. The action of the FIOD-ECD was a response to a declaration from the Dutch anti-piracy organization BREiN. One suspect has been arrested. More arrests can be expected.
During the search they also discovered a 5-color printing press to press covers on the DVDs and some illegal DVD copies. The DVD press was found ready to press hundreds of copies of the movie `Die Hard 4.0`. Other recent titles such as `Oceans 13`, `Evan Almighty` and `Fantastic Four, Rise Of The Silver Surfer` were also found. All the machines have been intercepted.
The DVD press was able to produce 285 DVDs per hour. There were two empty bags polycarbonate which was enough for 100.00 DVDs. The press probably comes from a bankrupt press, according to the international music business organization IFPI.
It`s the second time in The Netherlands that such an illegal DVD press was discovered. In 1999 a similar action took place organized by Buma/Stemra. When they entered a shed in Zoeterwoude, Zuid-Holland, they found two suspects and a CD-press, which was pressing the music CD `Millenium Mega Top 100`.
The illegally pressed DVDs were not sold in legal shops, but were available via social networks from the suspects. BREiN estimates that approximately 10% of all piracy in the Netherlands is organized piracy.
Tim Kuik, CEO of BREiN said: `Although most piracy nowadays takes place on the internet, there is still severe financial damage caused by professional DVD pirates. We estimate they sold their DVDs for €5 per DVD. Based on the information we currently have, this organization earned approximately € 500.000 over the last few months. It might be even more. We are very pleased that the FIOD-ECD handled this case so well.
