Police seize 40,000 pirate DVDs

POLICE have charged and released two men from Polis after confiscating 40,000 pirated DVDs at a video rental and two tourist supermarkets in the area. The haul was the biggest ever in Cyprus, police said.

They said they had been watching the suspects who made the copies for some time. The suspects had been selling the pirated copies to supermarkets and video clubs. A raid on the pirates’ headquarters revealed all of the reproduction materials and equipment, police said. The two men, who have not been named, were charged and released and will appear in court at a later date.

Raids will continue in other areas of Paphos where piracy is rife, especially among tourist supermarkets. Police believe the two suspects may have provided many outlets in the Paphos area besides Polis.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.