Kumasi, Jan. 14, GNA - The Ashanti Regional Police has arrested five Nigerians suspected to be members of a syndicate that produce and distribute pirated works of the Akan Film Producers Association. They were arrested at Alarbar, a suburb of Kumasi by a combined team of police officers and a taskforce of the Akan Film Producers upon a tip-off on Tuesday.

About 2,000 copies of the pirated Akan films on video disc packed in ten boxes were retrieved from them.

The suspects were Larabu Sumanu, 23, Issah Ousman, 22, Kabiru Amadu, 32, Abdul Raman Mumuni, 25 and Issaka Mohamadu, 22. Briefing journalists, Inspector Yusiff Tanko, Public Relations Officer of the Ashanti Regional Police Command said they had information that some people were engaged in that illegal act and therefore set their investigations machinery into motion. He said the syndicate's modus operandi was to procure a video disc of an original copy, take it outside the country reproduce them and smuggle them back into the country to sell at cheaper prices to unsuspecting members of the public. Inspector Tanko said the police arrested a suspect on similar case but did not go public because they knew that others might be involved and therefore, decided to gather enough intelligence first. He said the police were still investigating into their operations in order to clamp down on their activities. Inspector Tanko appealed to the public to be on the look out for such pirated movies and report promptly to the police for necessary actions to be taken. He also appealed to retailers to report people who tried to supply pirated items to them. 14 Jan. 09