Customs officers have arrested eight people after seizing 12,000 infringing photocopies of examination papers from 14 tutorial centres and an office.

The Customs & Excise Department recently received a report alleging a large amount of past papers of the Hong Kong Certificate Education Examination and Advance Level Examination had been photocopied for distribution in the form of tutorial packs at some tutorial centres without the authority's approval.

In a series of operations on May 5 and 6, officers seized the papers, 7,000 supplementary teaching DVDs, 11 computers, four photocopiers and two binders, worth $3.8 million in total.

Aged 25 to 57, the four men and four women arrested included a director and a manager of a company, and six responsible persons and staff members of the tutorial centres.

Copyright infringement warrants four years' jail and a $50,000 fine per infringing copy. Call 2545 6182 to report suspected copyright infringement.