Dozens of pirated CDs and cassettes featuring Celine Dion, Buju Banton, Adesh Samaroo, and FBI (Dil-E-Nadan), as well as scores of soca and chutney mixes and works by other artistes were seized yesterday by police.
By Carolyn KissoonThe sound of sirens sent illegal music vendors scampering along High Street, San Fernando, when police officers and officials of the Copyright Organisation of Trinidad and Tobago (COTT) swooped down in an attempt to rid the city of piracy.
Two men were arrested and $20,000 in compact disks and cassettes were seized, police said. The seized items covered the gamut of the music field-reggae, hip hop, soca, chutney.
Shortly before noon, police officers accompanied COTT officials as they made their way into the city. When the siren was sounded, the illegal vendors hurriedly packed their CDs and cassettes into boxes and stashed them in nearby vehicles.
A senior police officer said he was determined to get rid of piracy in the southern city. "Our first try was not very successful because we arrested just two vendors, but we are going to use a different approach to achieve our goal," he said.
By evening, there were no vendors along High Street. Even clothing vendors had fled the sidewalk.
