NCC arrests 25 suspected pirates, seizes goods worth N76.5m in 2016-Official

Lagos – The Lagos Zonal Office of the Nigerian Copyright Commission says it arrested 25 suspected pirates and seized goods worth N76.6 million in 2016. Mr Obi Ezielo, the Zonal Manager of the commission told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Friday in Lagos that the commission also carried out the anti-piracy raids within the year under review.

He said that the locations where the 25 suspected pirates were arrested include; Alaba, Shomolu, Ajegunle and Ojo. He further told the agency that the action was also extended to some major markets in the state.

According to him, the seized goods include 350,000 copies of optical

discs, some home videos, movies, musical works and literary books, suspected of being pirated. Ezeilo said that NCC seized N20 million worth of goods seized in Alaba market in March and N1.5million goods in April in the same market. ‘’In June, N5 million goods were seized at Shomolu, in July, N50 million worth of goods were also seized in Shomolu while in August, N50,000 worth of goods were seized in Ajegunle Lamlad,” he said. Ezeilo said that some of the suspects had been charged to the Federal High Court in Lagos.

He also told NAN that the commission conducted anti-piracy inspection in professional print, publishing and CDs’ distribution outlets within Lagos metropolis where it made some seizures.

He said that the commission would step up its anti-piracy raids and eradication in 2017. “Despite the financial constraints confronting the commission, we will not fail to discharge our mandate, because the eradication of piracy attitude is our utmost priority.” He said that though 2017 was a challenging year for the commission, the commission made it marks.

Ezeilo assured stakeholders of the commission’s zeal and effort to combat piracy in 2017 adding that genuine creators would benefit from the products of their creativity.

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