Paddy and Manny replace Lucky and Flo to take down pirates
First, there were Lucky and Flo. Now, we have Paddy and Manny, two sniffer dogs from Ireland who are set to send shivers down the spine of optical disc pirates. So this time see how good is these Paddy and Manny dogs will be! They will be arriving next month.
SEPANG: The canine-assisted war on DVD and CD pirates will resume in February when Paddy and Manny, two Labrador Retrievers that will take over from where Lucky and Flo left off, arrive here.
Like Lucky and Flo, these two canines are trained to sniff out the presence of polycarbonate and other chemicals in optical discs.
Deputy Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk S. Veerasingam said the canine anti-piracy unit under its enforcement division would be mobilised immediately upon the dogs arrival.
The seven enforcement officers in the unit are in the process of being trained. Our stint with Lucky and Flo has been very successful in sniffing out pirated discs.
Well done: The ministry’s K-9 unit with their dogs and police trainers after a training stint at the Sepang police station Tuesday.
This is the first canine unit in the world set up to combat piracy. I hope this will show Malaysias creativity and seriousness in weeding out pirated discs from our shops, he said after handing over certificates of completion to the officers at the police K-9 training unit yesterday.The two male dogs born and bred in Ireland like their predecessors are a contribution from the Asia-Pacific Motion Pictures Association.
In the period between Jan 1 and Dec 2 this year, authorities conducted checks on 57,747 premises resulting in 2,420 court cases. We have closed down 19 factories (producing pirated discs) that were operating without licences.
We also seize 2.3 million pieces of pirated discs, and property worth RM54mil, he said.
Bukit Aman deputy director of strategic planning SAC I Datuk Nooryah Mohd Anvar said there were plans to expand the current K-9 unit with the establishment of new divisions in other states.
At present, we have 115 dogs stationed at the KLIA, Bukit Aman and 18 other places. We are thinking of stationing dogs in places like Labuan and Langkawi. Some bigger states like Sabah, Sarawak and Perak may get additional dogs, she said.
New dog is coming, don’t let the dog sniff you, if not you will be in jail!