Kuwait Authorities Smash Multi-Million Dollar Criminal Cable Network

Wednesday 27 September 2017
Dubai - MENA Herald:

OSN, the region’s leading entertainment network, has welcomed news of a major blow to criminals stealing its content in Kuwait.

According to Kuwait’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID), three Indian men have been arrested after successful raids in a residential area of Salmiya, where they had been operating a sophisticated illegal cable network.

Detectives found dozens of illegal Dish TV India satellite set-top-boxes as well as Pirated OSN hardware that were being used to illegally distribute content to 10,000 subscribers over a 15 kilometre area.

The discovery of the illegal cable network in the country followed a six-month investigation by the police after OSN’s dedicated Content Protection team filed a complaint with the Kuwait Ministry of Interior, CID and Ministry of Communications.

OSN Chief Legal Officer, Sophie Moloney, said: “I congratulate the Kuwaiti authorities for this successful operation against content piracy. We are very grateful they have put a stop to this huge illegal cable network, that was costing us millions of dollars in lost revenue.”

Kuwait CID estimate those operating the illegal network were earning approximately 70,000 Kuwaiti Dinar (US$235,000) per month from their illegal services.

The arrested now face charges of money laundering and misuse of Kuwait’s telecommunications infrastructure.

Across the region, OSN is fighting TV piracy, which bleeds state exchequers and adversely impacts the creative industry. Successful raids have been held in various countries leading to the crackdown of illegal operations. OSN urges the people not to be duped by illegal operators and to support the concerted fight against content piracy.

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