Ghana Police Movie In Court

An Accra-based suspected movie pirate, Fatau Dauda, has appeared before an Accra High Court for pirating the newly released �Ghana Police� movie and illegally showing the home video in commercial cinemas barely 24 hours after the movie was released. The suspect was arrested in a massive police operation last Friday night while he was showing the movie in a network of commercial cinemas around Sodom and Gomora and Agbogbloshi, both Accra suburbs. Though the suspect was operating in a densely populated slum noted for habouring hardened criminals, the police operation was successfully done by men from the Greater Accra Regional Police Headquarters. Superintendent Theodore Hlormenu, Monitors Commander at the regional headquarters, explained that his outfit received complaints from the producer of the movie that someone had pirated the movie and was illegally using it for commercial purposes. The commander said after a little undercover intelligence gathering, his men were able to identify the exact spot the illegality was being perpetuated so they moved in and successfully arrested the culprit. �I had spent a lot of money to get this movie out and I even took huge loans to invest in it. The movie came out on Monday and by Tuesday, we had reports that someone was showing it in a network of cinemas in Accra and was pocketing the money. They guy has several cinemas so he buys the movie for just GH�5, takes it to his cinema and shows it four times a day. He charges each person GH�1 and his cinema hall takes about a hundred people. I hear he has other cinemas and they all show my movie at the same time and pocket the money while I am yet to get back even one percent on my investment,� Eugene Moratt, of E&E Productions, told NEWS-ONE. When NEWS-ONE visited the regional headquarters on Saturday, it was confirmed that the suspect was being held behind bars and that he would appear in court this morning. Under the copyright laws of Ghana, it is a criminal offence to take a home video and use it for commercial purposes without the approval of the producer of the video. However, several pirates are involved in this criminality and it is a major reason why Ghanaian investors within the movie industry hardly get their monies back though they produce very popular movies. �Ghana Police� is a controversial movie which reveals details about the day-to-day and administrative operations of the Ghana Police Service, how bad nuts within the Police Service enrich themselves and how such cases are handled when they reach the police hierarchy. Prior to the release of the movie last Monday, some persons within the Police Service were uncomfortable about the movie�s title and content and expressed strong misgivings about it, with some taking on the producer, Eugene Moratt. But after the release of the movie, NEWS-ONE sighted a letter from the Ghana Police service endorsing the movie and congratulating the producer, Mr. Moratt of E&E Productions. The letter, signed by the Ashanti Regional Crime officer, Superintendent A. John Ernest Owusu, noted that �the movie is directly connected to the good works of the Ghana Police Service and there are no any criminal intentions in it�so I would like to congratulate the production team of E&E Productions for the good works they have done.� There was a lot of uncertainty when television and radio adverts started running that a movie called �Ghana Police� was about to be released. The controversy surrounding the movie heightened when one of the adverts captured actress Nana Ama McBrown playing the role of a senior police officer saying that she was charging a driver for �future over speeding�. The movie featured Nana Ama McBrown, Akua Attaa Kyeiwaa, Kwaku Manu, Akrobeto, Azorzor and a host of other celebrated stars.