Malaysian authorities have raided three labs in southern Johor state capable of churning out four million pirated discs a year, an industry official said.

Mike Ellis, the Motion Picture Association's (MPA) regional director, said a team from Malaysia's domestic trade and consumer affairs seized the illegal optical disc burning labs and a related printing facility last Thursday.

"A total of 76 optical disc burners were seized from the three burner labs," Ellis said in a statement late Monday.

"It is estimated that the burners seized could have produced four million pirated discs per year, generating potential revenue of 12 million US dollars."

Ellis said the officers also confiscated eight printers and more than 11,000 pirated DVDs and VCDs including MPA member company titles Eragon, Ghost Rider, Meet the Robinsons, Night at the Museum and The Departed.

A female worker in her forties was arrested during the raid, he added.

Ellis said the labs had been operating for more than a year and were a major supplier of pirated discs to street vendors in the state capital Johor Bahru.

MPA studios lost 6.1 billion dollars in potential revenue due to worldwide piracy in 2005. About 1.2 billion dollars came from piracy in the Asia-Pacific region.