Alleged video pirate kingpin caught in police net

A DURBAN video shop owner alleged to be the kingpin behind the production of pirate English and Bollywood movies has been bust.

Fahim Goolam, the owner of Zafar’s Planet Bollywood, was arrested at his shop last week.

He was allegedly caught red handed. A stack burner was apparently copying nine movies simultaneously when his premises was raided.

Sagren Naicker, of the Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft, Major Dave Naicker and Warrant Officer Krish Chetty of the Durban Commercial Crime Unit made the bust.

Equipment including nine stack burners and 1814 discs worth about R350 000 were seized from the shop in Yusuf Dadoo (Grey) Street.

Goolam appeared in the Durban Commercial Crime Court on Thursday. He is out on R5 000 bail. Goolam was ordered to appear again in court next month.

Corne Guldenpsennig, CEO of the Southern African Federation Against Copyright Theft claimed that Goolam was a big fish in the piracy field.

“We are serious about rooting out individuals involved in the producing of pirate copies of DVDs and CDs.

“Goolam and his shop were on our radar for some time. He is regarded as a piracy kingpin.

“We want to send out a strong message that piracy will not be tolerated.

“The pirate copies are sold at a fraction of the price the genuine ones cost. The loss to the country is huge. Consumers can do their bit by not buying the pirate DVDs and CDs,’’ said Guldenpsennig.