Black Market DVDs Sold Online Confiscated
Police: Suspect Was Receiving Shipments From China
ASHLAND, Mass. -- Police confiscated from a Framingham, Mass., home and post offices 4,000 black market DVDs that were selling for as little as $5 each.
NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu reported it began with one DVD brought to the attention of an Ashland police officer who noticed something suspicious.
"Checking with the post office, we noticed a particular person. We developed a suspect that was receiving large shipments of boxes from China," Ashland Police Department Chief Roy Melnick said.
On Thursday, Ashland police armed with search warrants and working with federal officials and MGM investigators arrested Liye Jeff Li at his home in Framingham. The Chinese national was allegedly the main East Coast distribution center for DVDs originating from Russia and sent to China before arriving in the United States.
"The quality, according to the experts that came out from MGG, you can't tell the difference. That's how good these are. It looked like he had a manufacturing plant going on in his house where he would obtain cases of these loose DVDs and such, and then he would package them in blanks and take orders over the (Internet) and then ship them out," Melnick said.
Police confiscated $76,000 worth of DVDs -- more than 4,000 discs from offices in Westborough, Mass., Hopkinton, Mass., and Ashland, as well as Li's home and car.
Officials believe Li used several names through his eBay business -- including Liyeboy and GoSun323.
"There's probably going to be a lot of people who've already paid and are not going to recover their money and get a DVD, but shame on you if you think something is such a great deal," Melnick said.
Federal officials said that the video piracy industry is centered in Asia. It has become a multibillion-dollar market.
"It's no different robbing a bank, except you are robbing MGM," Melnick said.
Officials are in the process of tracking down shipments already in the mail. Melnick suggests that if you think you bought one of the DVDs, call your local police department.
Copyright 2005 by TheBostonChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Black Market DVDs Sold Online Confiscated
