The officials of Nigerian Copyright Commission (NCC), on Thursday, stormed the popular Emeka Offor Plaza, known for GSM in Onitsha Main Market and arrested five suspected Mp3s musical down- loaders, in a war against piracy in the country.
The NCC officials, acting on information, stormed the Plaza and apprehended the five suspects, who they believed to be the control tower for all the MP3 music loaders within the plaza.
The operation was led by NCC’s Director of Enforcement, Augustine Akewu Amodu and assisted by the Onitsha zonal director, Emeka Ogbonna as well as a team of security agents
However, efforts by NCC officials to arrest more people proved abortive as they quickly jumped into waiting vehicles and returned to their office as soon as they discovered that some of the traders had already started mobilising against them.
Parading the suspects at NCC zonal office in Onitsha, shortly on arrival, Amodu, who identified MP3 player, as a copyright infringement, lamented that the Nigerian music industry had already gone into abyss since the advent of MP3.
Amodu noted that the Director-General of NCC, Mr Afam Ezekude, had already given a directive that all the pirates who downloaded peoples’ musical and film works into MP3, audio and video plates and sell to customers should be arrested and prosecuted.
He, therefore, warned the general public to stop patronising the MP3 music loaders and movies pirates.