Leeds brothers spared jail over illegal movies website

TWO brothers from Leeds have been given a suspended prison sentence for illegally streaming films yet to be released in the UK.
By The Newsroom
Published 7th Dec 2012, 12:45 BST

Police say more than 100,000 hits a day were recorded at websites run by Faraz Saddiq, 27, and Ayaz Saddiq, 26.

The brothers, both of Woodsley Road, Hyde Park, Leeds, were arrested after an investigation by West Yorkshire Police’s Economic Crime Unit and the Federation against Copyright Theft.

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Both were sentenced to nine-months’ imprisonment, suspended for two years, along with 150 hours of unpaid work.

The websites were www.filmzzz.com and www.legalmovies.tv, with both streaming films without the permission of the copyright holders.

Emails were sent warning the administrators to remove the films before a search warrant was executed at Woodsley Road. Officers seized computer equipment used to set up and manage the two websites.

David Charity, a Financial Investigation Manager from West Yorkshire Police, said: “The Saddiq brothers created the two websites which re-directed users to the location of where they could find illegal copies of movies and television programmes. These included copies of films which at the time were not yet released in the UK. Before they were arrested their websites attracted 60,000 unique users and 125,000 hits every day.”