Copyrights Commission parades 5 suspected pirates

The Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC) has arrested five suspected music pirates at a popular GSM phone market in Onitsha Anambra.

The arrests followed an anti-piracy operation in the commercial city on Thursday in the wake of series of complaints.

NCC's Director of Enforcement, Mr Augustine Amodu, who presented the suspects to newsmen, said items recovered from them, included seven laptop computers, 10 memory cards and four handsets.

According to him, the suspects will be arraigned in court for violating the copyright law.

“We did a major raid in Emeka Offor shopping plaza in Onitsha Main Market and arrested those who download and upload MP3 and MP4 for customers.

“Their arrest was prompted by complaints from members of the Musical Products Dealers Association of Nigeria (MPDAN).

“The Nigerian music industry has gone into a very serious crisis of late; we found out that it is not all about optical disc only but also involved MP3 and MP4.

“Recovered from the suspects, included seven laptops, packets of memory cards and other accessories suspected to have contained musical platforms already loaded into the system by the pirates for selling.

“We are trying to diversify this economy under President Muhammadu Buhari’s mantra of change but it is unfortunate that piracy as a cankerworm had eaten deep into the economy of this nation,” he said.

Amodu, who pledged that the commission will not relent in the fight against copyright infringement, said that the Nigerian music industry had gone into abyss since the advent of MP3.

He advised members of the public to desist from patronising the MP3 music loaders and movie pirates, “who eat illegally from the sweat of hard working musicians.”

He also warned that NCC would soon go after commercial and private vehicle owners who patronise the pirates by using MP3 in their vehicles.

Amodu said that the commission had recorded 59 convictions and had done several burnings of pirated goods in Enugu, Lagos and Kaduna.

NAN reports that during the raid, Amodu was assisted by the Onitsha Zonal Director, Mr Emeka Ogbonna, as well as security personnel from the Nigerian Army and the Police.

In their speeches, the state Chairman of MPDAN, Mr Peter Obimdike and the National Chief Task Force Officer of MPDAN, Mr Chinedu Inyiama, commended NCC for sustaining the fight against piracy.

Obimdike said millions of naira had been lost to the illegal exercise at the expense of the artistes and producers.

“I want to commend the Director-General of NCC for devoting his time to fight the pirates to a standstill.

“I urge him not to relent until these pirates are flushed out and their nefarious activities brought to a barest minimum,” he added.

However, the suspects claimed that they were not into music piracy or Mp3 music loading as alleged.

They said they were into phone accessories and flashing of phones while a suspect particularly claimed that he was in Onitsha to buy phone accessories.