Cinema chiefs announced today that local authorities had busted a RM52 million secret optical disc burner lab - the biggest pirate lab - ever to be found in Malaysia.

Mike Ellis, the Motion Picture Association's (MPA) regional director said the raid was conducted last Friday by a team of 20 officers from Malaysia's Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs.

The sting operation was supported by the Malaysian Federation Against Copyright Theft, representing MPA, he said. The pirate optical disc burner lab was located in a suburb near the capital.

Ellis, who is based in neighbouring Singapore said four people, including two female workers aged between 24 and 40 were arrested and a total of 340 optical disc burners were seized.

"The team was led to the two-storey house following a tip from an informant. A total of 340 optical disc burners were seized making it the largest burner lab busted this year.

"The burners could have produced 18 million pirated discs per year, generating a potential revenue of 52 million ringgit," he said.

Street vendors affected

Ellis said the lab had been in operation for more than a year and was a major supplier of pirated discs to street vendors throughout the Klang Valley.

Among the pirated discs seized were MPA member company titles Ratatouille, Resident Evil and 30 Days of Night, he said.

Losses to the MPA studios due to worldwide Internet piracy amounted to US$6.1 billion in 2005 according to recent calculations, Ellis added.

Of that amount, about US$2.4 billion was lost to bootlegging, US$1.4 billion to illegal copying and US$2.3 billion to Internet piracy.

As a regional breakdown, approximately US$1.2 billion were losses from piracy across the Asia-Pacific, while the US accounted for US$1.3 billion.