Rand Corporation in a new report has pointed out film piracy has been funding terror operations in the Indian sub-continent and beyond, thus confirmed what Indian intelligence agencies have been maintaining all along regarding underworld kingpin Dawood Ibrahim. The report notes that the D company siphoning off millions of dollars earned from film piracy, drug-running and other crimes to finance terror operations.

It notes that the moment a film is released in Mumbai, the 'D-Company' makes camera prints and sends them to Karachi or Kuala Lumpur where millions of DVDs are made and marketed across the world. After the Mumbai-based Valuable Group introduced satellite transmission of films directly to cinema halls, the gang members have established links with small-time theatres in Gujarat where the camera prints are taken at the first show of any new film. Identifying Al-Mansoor and Sadaf brands as belonging to Dawood, the report notes that the D-Company manages distribution network in Pakistan and has also acquired the infrastructure to manufacture pirate VHS tapes and VCDs for sale.

The report adds that film piracy can be more lucrative than drug-trafficking. A pirated DVD made in Malaysia for 70 cents is marked up more than 1,000 per cent and sold in London for about $9. The profit margin is more than three times higher than the mark-up for Iranian heroin and higher than the profit from Columbian cocaine, the report asserts1.

• 1. “Film piracy funding terror: US thinktank,” Times of India, March 7, 2009, at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Film-piracy-funding-terror-US-thinkta...