Police seized around 42,000 dics in anti-piracy raids, which were carried out at different locations in Maharashtra and Gujarat to control film piracy.

Heightening pressure on film plagiarists, Police across two states conducted different raids over the last three days.

Police officials conducted raids in Mumbai, Buldana, Vadodara and Surat during which the group uncovered 41,713 pirated discs comprising multiple DVD prints of recent Hollywood and Bollywood films such as Kites, Iron Man 2, Shrek 4 and Badmaash Company.

The raids have been conducted by the police officials together with the recently formed alliance between Bollywood and Hollywood studios.

Mumbai Police has conducted many raids across Mumbai and seized around 8,755 pirated discs.

The initial raid was carried out in Chembur by a joint group of 12 members from the SS Branch (PI Kane) and AA Khan and Associates. 4,500 discs were found in the raid conducted on 6 stalls in the area. As a part of the operation the police have arrested 3 accused.

The second raid was conducted with the Powai Police Station (Sr. PI Ashok Jadhav and API Asha Korke) and seizing close to 1,800 DVDs. Two more raids were conducted by Nallasupara and Mira Road Police stations (SP Madhukar Pandey and Dy. SP Devraj along us with PSI Tambe and Team). United Copyright Protection Association (UCPA) conducted a major raid in Sansar shop in Buldana city, Maharashtra.

In Gujarat, the first raid was conducted in Vadodara by the police together with UCPA seizing 14,953 pirated DVDs and 10 DVD writers worth Rs. 5 Lakhs. The second raid was carried out in Surat, where Police and UCPA seized
1,960 pirated and registered the FIR in Varacha Police Station.

Mr. AA Khan stated, "Piracy is a serious offence and one which is rampant within major parts of the city. We along with Mumbai Police are dedicated to the cause of arresting the increase of such activities. However, the job of the police is nullified since the common man goes and purchases movies from such pirates. People need to remember that besides denying the creators of the content their fair share, the proceeds from such sales fund several illegal activities including terrorism in India and abroad." (With Inputs from Agencies)