KUALA LUMPUR: A collaboration between the police and Astro Malaysia Holdings Bhd saw an illegal streaming ring busted.
Federal Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Comm Datuk Seri Ramli Mohamed Yoosuf said following information on the illegal streaming operations, the police together with Astro and Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) collaborated to identify the location of the server farm used.
“Via this collaboration, an operation was conducted on March 14 in three areas in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur,” he told a press conference here yesterday.
The first saw a raid in Sungai Long (Kajang) where a suspected operations hub was shut down.
The hub was believed to have been used to control and monitor the server farm’s “on and off” timings for the illegal streaming services.
Two more raids were conducted on Jalan Kovil Hilir in Sentul and Taman Genting Setapak in Kuala Lumpur, where police found suspected server farms that would pirate Astro and other international channels’ content for those using the syndicate’s services.
“As a result of this operation, two local suspects, a man and a woman, were arrested. The suspects, aged 53 and 57, were believed to be the main masterminds behind this operation,” he said, adding that losses suffered by Astro was “estimated to be in the millions”.
“We advise the public not to be involved in illegal streaming as it is an offence under Malaysian law,” said Comm Ramli.
