Asian kung fu queen Michelle Yeoh has vowed to destroy pirated copies of her new movie "The Touch" — but pirates here gave her a swift kick in the teeth, a report said Monday.

Illegal copies of the movie, produced by and starring the former "Bond girl", hit the streets just three days after it was released Aug 1, The Star newspaper said.

The copies are selling at 60 percent above the normal black market price of RM5 to "cash in on all the media hype the movie has generated," the paper said.

"There is only one master copy available in Malaysia so supply is hard to come by. But it is selling well, we sold eight copies in two hours," one stall owner was quoted as saying.

The 39-year-old Malaysian actress, star of the Oscar-winning "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", pledged during a promotional tour last week to destroy every pirated copy of her new movie that she could find.

"The Touch", a US$20-million action flick shot in locations from mystical Tibet to China's arid deserts of Dunhuang and the teeming streets of Beijing, is Yeoh's first foray into film production.

She also stars as the last in a line of acrobats whose secret mission is to protect a great Buddhist treasure.

Flourishing industry

Piracy is a flourishing industry in Malaysia with cheap CDs, VCDs and DVD's widely available for sale on the streets and in shops despite government crackdowns.

Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Deputy Minister S Subramaniam was quoted by Monday's New Straits Times as saying that an intellectual property committee has been set up to look into arrest of copyright pirates.

The daily said the Copyright Act 1987 currently empowers enforcement officers to raid and seize items but not to arrest suspects. — AFP