Chandigarh, Jan 28 (IANS) At least 10 people were arrested and nearly 1,500 pirated CDs were seized in raids across seven cities in Punjab, police said.

The raids, following tip-offs from the Indian Music Industry (IMI), were conducted in Amritsar, Ludhiana, Mohali, Bathinda, Ludhiana, Faridkot and Batala.

An IMI spokesman said that 10 shop-owners, who were making and selling pirated CDs, were arrested.

He said that the raids were the biggest anti-piracy ones in the country.

Eight computers, 53 memory cards, several DVD writers and card readers were also seized during the raids.

The IMI claims that the music industry loses Rs.600 crore annually to piracy. It claims that the mobile chip piracy was causing a loss of another Rs.300 crore to the film industry.