NCC officials attacked in Onitsha after dismantling pirates' illegal cable installations worth N20m

www.oodgwublog.com reports that officials of the Nigerian Copyrights Commission, NCC yesterday allegedly escaped unhurt in the commercial city of Onitsha, Anambra state after raiding offices of those they identified as pirates who supply illegal television cables and dismantling all their installations.


The alleged attackers, numbering about 20, suspected to be the pirates whose installations were dismantled by the NCC officials during the raid, had stormed the premises of Exotic Suites at the GRA area of Onitsha where the officials had lodged and attempted to attack them, barely two hours after they returned from the raid.


But according to NCC officials , it took the timely intervention of few policemen who were still around the premises to disperse the angry crowd who were surging nearer to launch the attack.


The officials were escorted out of Onitsha by a police team, with full Hilux van load of all the illegal cable installations that were dismantled during the raid.



The NCC officials led by its Director of Enforcement, Augustine Amodu had earlier in the day, stormed Fegge, Omagba, Odoakpu and MCC areas of Onitsha where they dismantled all the equipment installed by the cable pirates to supply cable network with channels to the masses and then collect illegal fees from them at an agreed monthly payments.


Displaying the dismantled installations which included black cables, boosters, decoders, repeaters, subscription cards, heavy duty batteries and other gadgets used in mounting cable networks with channels, Amodu told newsmen that with such installations and supply of cable network which has assorted channels, customers to the pirates no longer need to patronize accredited cable network suppliers such as DSTV, Startimes, GoTV, MyTV Africa, among others which charge through monthly subscriptions.


Amodu noted that the operation which lasted for about five hours, was the second of its kind barely three weeks after their most recent operation in Onitsha during which they raided the popular Emeka Offor GSM Plaza and arrested about  five persons who pirate various music and download them into MP3 for sale.


Amodu who however noted that no arrest was made as the pirates abandoned their offices and fled on sighting the NCC officials, accompanied by soldiers and policemen as back-up security, expressed concern that in spite of all their repeated warnings against piracy in the areas of hardware, software, book and music, hoodlums are still continuing with their nefarious activities.


He stated that it was against this background that NCC decided to shift from talking, talking to actions, enforcement and prosecutions of culprits. 

Photo of Amodu addressing newsmen during the display of dismantled items
last pix shows the items being loaded into an NCC vehicle