In a major swoop down on TV piracy, Alexandria Police raided two shops on Al Malek Hifni Street and confiscated more than 370 IP decoders, 500 LAN converters, 175 Wi-Fi LAN connectors, a PC and memory stick with TV piracy software.

Also, the police confiscated 370 illegal decoders from both shops leading to the arrest of two persons. The cases are likely to be referred to the Economic Courts.

One of the largest hauls of piracy equipment in Egypt, the Alexandria raid is the fifth in the country — and the first in the city – following the campaign launched by OSN, the region’s major pay-TV network, to curb the menace of TV piracy that negatively impacts the country’s television and creative industry.

The Alexandria raid is significant in that one of the illegal operators was also exporting illegal decoders to other countries. OSN has filed complaints against the company in other countries where these decoders were being sold.

Nader Genidy, GM, Alexandria Police, said: “We are taking a very stringent view on TV piracy and will take strong action against illegal TV operators. We look forward to the cooperation of the public in this regard, as they must realize that accessing TV content from unauthorized vendors is illegal.”

For the police raid, over 16 officers and two lieutenants were deployed. The GM congratulated the team for their dedicated efforts, including Sheref Abdelhamed, manager of Alexandria Police and Kaled Abdelhady, manager of anti-piracy at Alexandria Police.

David Butorac, CEO of OSN, said: “We admire the commitment of Alexandria Police and Egyptian authorities in taking sustained and firm action against TV piracy. The illegal operators are doing a great disservice to Egypt, a nation with a rich creative legacy. They are also deceiving the public by providing them unreliable and low-quality content that is accessed illegally.”