Police from 10 countries in Europe have taken down the world’s largest piracy network in a major joint operation.
According to a foreign news agency, law enforcement agencies from the United Kingdom, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland and Romania participated in Operation Takedown.
This network was allegedly providing pirated content to more than 22 million users in Europe and was illegally earning more than $260 million per month and $3.15 billion annually. Due to which streaming services were losing up to $10 billion annually.
The operation, which was carried out by law enforcement with the support of the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA), resulted in the seizure of $1.73 million in cryptocurrency and the arrest of 11 people, while 102 people are under investigation.
AAPA Co-President Mark Mulready said that multi-jurisdictional law enforcement actions on this scale highlight the challenge the industry faces due to complex international piracy networks.
The operation followed a two-year investigation, which also involved Europol. The investigation monitored social media platforms and illegal streaming forums.
Europol said in a press release that beyond copyright infringement, evidence of other criminal activities was also found in this case, including money laundering and cybercrime.
29 computer servers and hundreds of IPTV devices were seized during the operation.
