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Exporters and forwarding agents found shipping pirated goods will be fined
and blacklisted, said Malaysia Airlines senior general manager (Cargo) Datuk
J.J Ong .
He said they have launched Operation Double Trouble, the nation's biggest
anti-piracy campaign conducted by MASkargo, the Domestic Trade and Consumer
Affairs Ministry and Motion Pictures Association to track down culprits.
Ong said Maskargo has been a target for these unscrupulous exporters and
they are one of the key air cargo carriers in the region.
Last year, MASkargo hauled 12 shipments containing pirated discs.
He said these exporters have been fined and issued a warning but to date
none of them have been blacklisted.
“The fines are imposed by authorities in foreign countries where MASkargo
flies and the amount ranges from RM300 to RM7000 per shipment.
“The exporters who are both companies and individuals are usually from Klang
Valley and the southern states and their customers are from Europe, Africa
and the Middle East,” he said.
He said the biggest shipment containing pirated discs weighed 50kgs.
“Suspected shipment would be intercepted after acceptance and x-rayed to
determine the nature of contents.
“We have also alerted all acceptance counters at the Advanced Cargo Centre
in Kuala Lumpur International Airport and Penang Cargo centre to be wary of
such submissions.
“These measures are necessary as we would have to bear the heavy penalties
for any wrongfully declared cargo,” he said.
Ong said the carrier company had experienced a situation where pirated goods
that were declared as other cargoes had been detected by the customs
department in Europe.
“In the end, we were asked to pay for all the charges incurred to store the
goods right up to the point it was destroyed.
“In some instances, the goods would require to be transported back to the
country of origin and again we will have to bear the cost,” said Ong.
In their battle against piracy, MASkargo had sponsored the shipment of two
labradors from London which are trained to sniff out polycarbonate and other
chemicals found in optical discs.
The dogs named Lucky and Flo are now housed at MASkargo's six-star animal
hotel in KLIA.
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