Three men aged 26 to 38 have been jailed for up to six years by the District Court for running a piracy syndicate.

They were arrested by Customs in 2005 for operating a pirated disc replicating workshop, two storage centres and three retail outlets. Officers seized more than 100,000 pirated discs and 16 replicating machines, worth about $2 million.

Customs then applied for a restraint order under the Organised & Serious Crimes Ordinance to freeze $4-million worth of assets suspected to be proceeds derived from selling pirated discs.

In accordance with the District Court's verdict, Customs' Financial Investigation Group is preparing documents for making an application to the High Court for forfeiture of the frozen assets of more than $1 million.

Including this case, Customs has invoked the ordinance in the prosecution of five intellectual property rights cases with frozen assets amounting to $74 million.