The Nigerian Copyright Commission on Thursday said it has seized N10.3bn worth of pirated goods January 2011 and August 2016.

This was revealed by the Director-General of the Commission, Afam Ezekude at a press briefing in Abuja.

Ezekude said 54 persons were also convicted for copyright infringement during the same period.

He further revealed that most of the seized products were from China.

He said, “From January 2011 to date, the Commission has carried out 270 anti-piracy operations at various locations in the country, resulting in the seizure of 7,942,683 units of pirated products valued at over N8.1bn, with over 608 suspects apprehended and convictions of 54 copyright pirates at different Federal High Court jurisdictions in Nigeria.

“Apart from the convictions, the Commission also intercepted 25 containers of pirated Nigerian and foreign works and carried out public destruction of 749,316,187 units of seized pirated copyright works and contrivances estimated at N10.3bn across the nation, especially in Lagos, Kaduna, and Enugu states.”

He also said 172 cases are at various stages of trial.