Europol arrested 14 smuggler pirates

[Viper Carder]

Pirate content was broadcast on more than 2,200 television channels, and illegal goods were sold on social networks.

On November 28, Europol announced the completion of an international operation that took place for 6 months from May to November, together with Interpol and Eurojust. The operation was attended by 27 countries of Europe and America.

14 suspects were detained, whom Europol accuses of leading a « life-saving lifestyle » from illegally obtained income. The operation took place in Colombia and Brazil, however, scammers were arrested in Spain.

Law enforcement agencies on several continents:

• closed 12,526 websites;
• turned off 32 servers that were used to distribute and post illegal pirate content for 2,294 television channels;
• closed 15 online stores selling counterfeit products on social networks;
• confiscated 127,365 counterfeit goods ( clothing, watches, shoes, accessories, perfumery, electronic goods and phone cases ) worth more than € 3.8 million.

Seized counterfeit goods

According to the case file, one of the suspects earned € 150,000 a month, « by spending a wasteful lifestyle in a luxury home, owning expensive cars and traveling around the world ».

« The criminal network has dedicated itself to the large-scale marketing and distribution of pirated audiovisual content on the Internet », — said Europol. « As part of the operation, the Spanish police turned off 32 servers on which illegal content was posted and confiscated money, documents and 2 luxury cars ».