European police dismantle network of illegal film and sports distributors

Police and justice in several Western European countries have shut down a large number of illegal cable TV channels. In addition, one of the world's largest illegal streaming services has been taken off the net. 

In a large-scale operation, more than 100 house searches were carried out against 102 suspects. Eleven suspects are arrested in Croatia.

The suspects distributed illegal material from online streaming services, including movies and series. They also hacked more than 2,500 television channels, such as sports channels. The illegal service provider served more than 22 million users worldwide. 

The perpetrators were able to make more than 250 million euros in illegal profit per month. The economic damage to the copyright holders of the material is estimated at 10 billion euros.

The international police services of Eurojust and Europol supported the operation, which involved Italian, Croatian, Dutch, Romanian, Swedish, Swiss and British authorities. On 26 November, the servers hosting the illegal streaming were seized and shut down.

During searches, more than EUR 1.6 million in cryptocurrency and EUR 40,000 in cash were seized. Croatian police arrested 11 suspects.