Gardai in Meath and Dublin have seized a large quantity of video and CD-Rom pornography after a surveillance operation discovered a gang operating a "same day delivery" service to its customers.
More than 30 officers were involved in the raids on a number of premises in the Crumlin area of Dublin and around Navan and Duleek, Co Meath.
In the past week, more than 300 video cassettes were seized. One in three are believed to have been hard-core pornographic material, and more than 100 pornographic CD-Roms were also seized, the first significant haul of such material.
A file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions after 12 people were questioned by gardai. Four laser copiers and a large number of master tapes of unreleased films and some pirated music CDs were also seized. A garda source said the CDs were of extremely high quality and included contemporary bands like The Verve, country and western albums and older vintage bands.
It is believed the gang offered a telephone-order porn service. A number was advertised nationally in some magazines for people to call and order a list of available material. Some of the cassettes were delivered and others operated a retail drop-in service. While gardai were searching one such "shop" - a rented office in Dublin - a customer arrived and asked a plainclothes garda if he could exchange a video. Much of the pornography was of German and American origin, a source close to the investigation said. It was not clear if any had originated in Ireland.
The CD-Rom material, most of it high-quality live-action pornography, was most disturbing, the source said, as it could be copied on to the Internet and accessed by children.
"We would regard it as a very significant seizure," Supt Eamon Courtney, of Navan gardai, said. "We mightn't have put them out of business, but we've certainly dealt them a body blow."
Supt Courtney said the seizures highlighted the criminal and disturbing nature of video piracy.
