Accra (Greater Accra) 26 March '99

The Accra Central Police, in a joint exercise with the Copyright Society of Ghana (COSGA), on Wednesday arrested 15 persons who were dealing in pirated cassettes of both local and foreign artistes. They had also displayed cassettes for sale without banderoles. A statement issued by Inspector Andy Vortia of the Police Public Relations Unit said following complaints by COSGA of "massive faked and pirated cassettes on the market", a team of policemen, led by DSP Darko Nyinaku, Adabraka District Commander, undertook the exercise at Katamanto and Kwame Nkrumah Circle. Other cassettes were found to have been imported from Togo, Nigeria and Singapore." It said over 8,000 pieces of cassettes were retrieved and are being scrutinised. Those arrested would be put before court early next week. The statement said the exercise would be conducted periodically to control the situation.