A recent interpol report on pirated music and films used to fund terrorist groups has sent tremors in the entertainment business. Bollywood could be affected seriously by the new revelation, which has named Dawood Ibrahim. The piracy network is funding terrorist groups in the Middle East and Northern Ireland, according to top police officials. Contraband CDs and DVDs are becoming the "preferred method" for terror groups including Al-Qaeda to raise funds, said the report, written by Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble for a US congressional committee.
The report seen by the Hollywood reporter, said, the Recording Industry Association of America has evidence that two illegal CD plants in Pakistan are financed by Dawood Ibrahim, whom the US Government has named as a "specially designated global terrorist." He is alleged to be working with Al-Qaeda and funding attacks by Islamic extremists aimed at destabilising the Indian government. In his report Noble wrote: "In July 2003 Interpol concluded that the link between organised crime and counterfeit goods was well established and sounded the alarm that (intellectual property crime) was becoming the preferred method of funding for a number of terrorist groups. Developments since then have reinforced this view, and the following example illustrates how these activities continue to be a cause for concern." He explained how funds collected from entertainment piracy were going directly to terror leaders in Hezbullah. "Counterfeit goods produced in Europe are sent to a free-trade zone in South America by a group of Lebanese criminals sympathetic to Hezbullah. The goods are then smuggled into a third country, to avoid import duties, where they are sold via a network of Palestinians. An unknown amount of the money generated through this activity is suspected to be remitted to Hezbullah," he wrote. The report also said that Irish terrorist groups also used piracy to fill its coffers, but was not specific as to which groups. The Interpol report was reportedly put before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee which was examining the impact of international copyright piracy. |