Studio with Pornographic material raided in Lusaka's Chunga

May 6, 2009
DEC, police find miniature video cameras connected to CCTV system

A Combined team of officers from the police and Drug Enforcement Commission (DEC) in Lusaka has uncovered a concealed studio in a house in Chunga township where pirated and pornographic materials are suspected to be produced.

The owner of the house, a former Copperbelt University student who was found in the house during the raid, was yesterday picked up to help with investigations. The studio is fitted with a fully-computerised ultra-modern surveillance system comprising six miniature video cameras connected to a CCTV (closed-circuit television) system, an intercom system on all doors and a touch-sensitive alarm system, which is wired to all windows.

CCTV is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It is often used for surveillance in areas that may need monitoring such as banks, casinos, airports, military installations and convenience stores. Using the surveillance system around the house, the occupants managed to disconnect and dismantle one of the computer hard discs when they noticed the police approaching, but the equipment was later re-assembled and pornographic material was discovered on it.

Acting DEC Commissioner Solomon Jere said the commission was concerned about the pornographic materials, and the discovery would be followed by a seizure of the house, the equipment and all the items discovered inside. He said some people had already been arrested and more were likely to be picked up as investigations progressed.

Intellectual property specialist Kingsley Nkonde estimated the value of equipment found in the hidden studio to be about US$ 50,000. Among the items found were multi-media computers with a capacity of duplicating 48 DVDs or CDs per minute, colour printers for printing the covers of the pirated materials, and laptops.

Hundreds of movies on DVDs, blank CDs, copied items, cover printouts and cuttings were also found in three of the rooms in the house. The house was fully equipped with monitors for the CCTV system as well as different types of uninstalled surveillance cameras.

Nkonde said it took police four days to investigate the goings-on at the house before the raid was effected around 03:00 hours yesterday. He said although the team disturbed the surveillance cameras by pointing them upwards to avoid detection, the law enforcement officers experienced difficulties in entering the house because of the alarm system on the window panes. He said the house was conveniently built without a wall fence in order for surveillance cameras to detect all approaching objects and persons.

Nkonde said that because of the suspected illegal activities discovered in the house, the officers believed that the surveillance system was meant for detecting approaching law enforcement officers rather than criminal elements.

Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Services Permanent Secretary Emmanuel Nyirenda, who rushed to the scene, commended the law enforcement officers who made the raid, saying the discovery was a major bust. He said the Government had for a long time thought that the pirated materials were being imported into the country.
He said the discovery showed that the offensive materials were locally manufactured.

The ministry would now be more alert in detecting the local sources of the pirated materials and ensure that the producers were dealt with. He urged the public to report whoever was suspected of being involved in the scam, saying the owner of the house and the studio in Chunga would have to help the police with investigations.

The owner of the house denied that he operated an illegal studio and explained that he and his partners were in the process of forming a company related to studio work.(Times of Zambia)