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Piracy Network Taken Down in Mass European Operation

Elizabeth Greenberg

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piracy takedown
Over 100 homes were raided, resulting in the seizure of over 250 million euros and 11 arrests. 

Law enforcement authorities across ten countries have jointly taken down one of the world’s largest piracy networks in a collaborative operation.

Over 100 properties were raided by police across the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Sweden, and Switzerland in Operation Takedown.

Allegedly, the piracy network had generated more than 250 million euros from illegally pirated content each month from over 22 million European users.

Operation Takedown, which was supported by the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) seized 1.65 million euros in cryptocurrency and 40,000 euros in cash.

Currently, 102 people are under investigation, with 11 people already arrested in relation to the operation.

The operation also seized at least 29 servers, and took down 100 domains.

Besides illegal video content, other forms of contraband was seized including various drugs and weapons.


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“The scale of these multi-jurisdictional law enforcement actions highlights the considerable challenge our industry faces when dealing with such sophisticated international pirate networks,” said Mark Mulready, co-president of AAPA.

“We are proud to have collaborated with our law enforcement partners to provide technical training and in-field support to assist them in successfully tackling the world’s largest pirate network.”

According to Europol, which supported the operation, there was evidence of other crimes perpetrated by the piracy group, including cyber-crime and money laundering.

According to Italian authorities involved in the operation, the illegal IPTV operation, where television channels are provided via broadband internet providers, caused about 10 billion euros worth of damage per annum to streaming services.

Elizabeth Greenberg

Staff Writer

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