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Authorities have seized nearly 5 million pirated discs and arrested 870 people in a two-month anti-piracy operation in about a dozen Asia-Pacific nations.

Operation Trident involved 1,874 raids by national law enforcement agencies, according to the Motion Picture Association, which coordinated the operation in December and January.

The raids targeted pirate production facilities, pirated optical discs from street vendors, retail shops and markets; and the exporters of pirated DVDs and video CDs, the group said.

Illegal copying of music, movie and software is a costly problem in China, Malaysia, Thailand and other Asian countries, where manufacturers and legitimate sellers lose billions of dollars to piracy.

In a statement Wednesday, the MPA said Operation Trident aimed to protect sales of movie theater tickets and home video products “by reducing the availability of pirated optical discs during the important Christmas and New Year holiday season.”

While Malaysia conducted the most raids — 606, with 329 people arrested — it was China where officials seized the most discs: 60 percent of the 4.8 million total.

Operation Trident operations were conducted in Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan and Thailand.

In 2006, nearly 12,400 raids resulted in the seizure of more than 35 million illegal optical discs, 4,482 optical disc burners and the break up of 50 factory optical disc production lines, the MPA said.