Europol: Huge hit to illegal IPTV distributors in Bulgaria
EU police co-operation agency Europol supported a massive crackdown on illegal IPTV distributors in an operation carried out by the Cybercrime Unit of the Bulgarian General Directorate Combating Organised Crime and led by the Bulgarian Supreme Prosecutor’s Office of Cassation, Europol said on February 5.
This was Bulgaria’s third successful operation, supported by Europol against illegal IPTV distributors in the past year, the police agency said.
The investigation targeted six companies active in the Bulgarian cities of Sofia and Varna and the region of Bourgas.
Bulgaria’s national authorities carried out 17 house searches and seized a large number of documents and digital information.
The examination of the evidence concluded that at least 30 000 people were subscribed to the illegally distributed signal. One of the six companies involved was fined 650 000 euro.
Following this action, six pre-trial proceedings were opened, the statement said.
Europol’s Intellectual Property Crime Coordination Coalition (IPC3) supported the investigation on the ground by deploying two experts to Bulgaria.
Europol officers exchanged information in real-time and cross-checked operational data gathered against Europol’s databases.
The operational deployment, handled by Europol’s IPC3, was partly funded by the European Union Intellectual Property Office, Europol said.
(Photo: Gamal Abdalla)
