MANILA, Philippines ? (UPDATE) Authorities have thwarted an alleged attempt by a Hong Kong-based syndicate behind video and audio disc piracy to use the Philippines as its main base of operations with the seizure of disc replicating machines at Manila?s North Harbor.

The Bureau of Customs (BoC) presented to the media yesterday an estimated P300 million worth of replicating machines they confiscated at the Manila International Container Port (MICP) over the weekend.

Customs Commissioner Napoleon Morales said the registered importer of the contraband, Info Bright Technologies Hong Kong Ltd. and its local affiliate, Info Bright Philippines Corp., failed to secure permits for the 10 replicating machines.

The shipment, meanwhile, was consigned to Kintetsu Corp., a company based in Clark Field, Pampanga.

Morales said the importer also did not have the permission of the Optical Media Board (OMB) to bring in the regulated equipment used in mass producing DVDs and VCDs.

?We will go after the individuals behind this company and find out who their Filipino counterparts are. We will file cases against them,? he said.

OMB Chairman Edu Manzano said the replicating machines could produce nearly 500,000 pirated discs a day.

He said he denied the application for import permit of the company as its owners, Tsio Kei Lung and Ng Kam Fung, were convicted in Hong Kong for copyright infringement.