On Tuesday, police torched an estimated 400,000 pirated CDs, VCDs and DVD confiscated since March in a ceremony held in front of Phnom Penh’s Wat Phnom. Most of counterfeit discs have been seized from vendors around Phnom Penh.

“All the pirated CDs, and DVDs were confiscated from DVD-pirating places in Phnom Penh and Kandal province, and some were confiscated from market in Phnom Penh, where they were being illegally sold,” Major General Chhay Sinarith, director of the internal security department of the Ministry of Interior, quoted by the Cambodia Daily as saying.

Khim Sarith, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arts, was quoted by the Phnom Penh Post as saying it was the fourth time authorities had confiscated large quantities of counterfeit discs in order to destroy them.

Vendors found selling pirated films risk fines of 7,500 riels (US$1.82) per CD or DVD, while cafes caught screening illegal pornographic DVDs can be fined up to 20 million riels and sent to court, according to the Post.

“In 2008, we destroyed only 100,000 CDs and DVDs, but in 2009, we cooperated closely with the Ministry Interior to raid every pirating place that steals content from our film companies,” Kong Kantara, undersecretary of state at the Ministry of Culture, was quoted by the Daily as saying.

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