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Both Toronto and Peel Regional police have hit back at DVD pirates in four separate incidents over the last several weeks.

On May 31, 2005, officers from Peel Regional Police Street Crime Unit arrested a 22 year old Oshawa man selling pirated copies of recent theatre releases, including Star Wars III and Monster-In-Law, from the back of his car in a parking lot at Kennedy Rd. and Queen St. in Brampton.

A week later, on June 7, 2005, Peel Intelligence officers executed a search warrant at Soul Flexx Fashions on Queen St. in Brampton and seized approximately 325 counterfeit DVDs of Hollywood movies which were being sold from the store.

Police have charged both Vincent Francis and Conrad Blackwood, 32, the owner of the Brampton store, with Possession of Property Obtained by Crime in relation to these incidents.

On Friday, June 17, 2005, officers from Toronto Police, 52 Division Plainclothes Unit, arrested Rosanna GRAHAM, 32 yrs. of Mississauga and Takudzwa DECEMBER, 24 yrs of No Fixed Address and charged them both with Fraud Under $5000.00 and Possession Under in regards to the seizure of 170 counterfeit DVDs.

The seizure followed a police sting where GRAHAM was contacted at a phone number advertised in a flyer put out by GRAHAM and DECEMBER in the area of Central Technical School in Toronto. The flyer advertised DVDs for sale at 3 for $25.00 and included a list of titles of mostly new Hollywood theatrical releases. Officers ordered a number of copies of Star Wars III, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The Interpreter and when the subjects delivered the order, they were arrested.

The investigation revealed that the subjects were using the equipment at a nearby Internet Café to make the copies from pirated movies purchased from a Chinese mall just north of the city.

In the latest incident, on June 21, 2005, 52 Division Plainclothes officers arrested Xing LIN, 24 yrs, a Scarborough resident, outside of 270 Spadina Ave. and seized 377 counterfeit DVDs which he was selling from a table setup on the sidewalk. He was charging customers 3/$20.00 for burned DVDs of new movies, most of which were stilling being shown in theatres. LIN has been charged with Fraud Over $5000.00 and Possession Over.

"We greatly appreciate the efforts of the police in these investigations", said Serge Corriveau, Vice-President of the CMPDA's Anti-Piracy Operation. "Retail DVD piracy has been having an increasing impact on legitimate DVD sales and box office revenue, particularly when the movies involved are still playing in theatres", said Corriveau.

The Canadian Motion Picture Distributors Association is the Canadian affiliate of the Motion Picture Association, the international counterpart of the Motion Picture Association of America and represents a number of major U.S motion picture studios in the Canadian distribution of feature films, television, pay TV and home video.