Police have seized about US$1 million worth of contraband and arrested 17 people in the biggest single haul of pirated software in Singapore, officials said yesterday.
Some 124,000 pieces of illicit computer programs, video games and music CDs were recovered Tuesday from a syndicate based in a flat, with 10 retail outlets located in public housing estates.
"This is the largest piracy syndicate police have smashed," a Singapore Police press statement said, adding that more arrests were expected.
PHOTO: AFP
It said the Business Software Alliance, a group which fights intellectual piracy worldwide, along with representatives of the computer gaming, movie and music industries, were helping police identify the seized articles.
"Of course we are very pleased by the action taken by the police," said Tarun Sawney, regional enforcement manager for the software alliance.
The suspects arrested in police raids across the island included 16 men and one woman, aged 16 to 58.
Under Singapore law, people found guilty of selling or distributing works which are protected by copyrights or trademarks can be jailed for up to five years and fined a maximum of US$57,000.
"The police do not tolerate such [a] blatant form of piracy activities," assistant superintendent Elaine Ying, head of the intellectual property rights branch of the police, said in the press statement.
"We will spare no efforts in detecting and eliminating the syndicates and [their] members. Intellectual property piracy is illegal but many are tempted to share its spoils," she said. "They are mistaken if they think that the risk is worth taking."
The Straits Times newspaper reported that the contraband was believed to have been usually smuggled by car from neighboring Malaysia.
Malaysia is reputed to be a major source of pirated movies, software and CDs sold in Southeast Asia.
The latest Singapore seizure came one month after another major haul of counterfeit software and movies worth some US$600,000 in the Orchard Road tourist belt, which resulted in five arrests, the Straits Times said.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
RSS