Malaysian authorities said they had seized more than 350,000 pirated discs destined for overseas markets in checks at four of the country's airports this year.

And in a separate action, a first for Malaysia, the owner of a shopping mall in the eastern city of Kuantan is being sued for allowing tenants to sell pirated discs. Further centres are also being threatened with lawsuits.

"The notices asked the owner to evict the tenants selling pirated CDs on the premises. Unfortunately, no action was taken," said Recording Industry Association of Malaysia chief executive Tan Ngiap Foo, according to the Bernama news agency.

Tan said the association was preparing similar legal action against the owners of six other shopping complexes across the country.

Like many Asian countries, Malaysia is awash with pirated DVDs and the latest releases are sold openly. But now the country has vowed to crack down on the trade.

Bound for Cambodia

Iskandar Halim Sulaiman, an official from the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, said 362,000 pirated CDs, VCDs and DVDs worth RM3.3 million (US$900,900) had been seized at airports this year.

Iskandar said the discs were detected in checks by a special ministry unit at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), as well as airports in the states of Johor, Sabah and Sarawak.

"Yesterday, the special unit foiled an attempt to export 8,000 DVDs worth RM80,000 to Johannesburg, South Africa, through the cargo services in KLIA," Iskandar was quoted as saying by Bernama.

He also said the unit last week confiscated 7,000 discs which were bound for Cambodia and another raid earlier in the month yielded 36,000 pirated computer games en route to Montevideo.