Two houses in Dublin and Meath were searched, and two men and two women were arrested.
Gardaí from The Intellectual Property Crime Unit (IPCU) of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation, conducted an operation targeting illegal IPTV streaming services on Tuesday 11 September.
Searches were carried out in two houses in Crumlin and Ashbourne on Tuesday morning.
Four people (two women aged 37 and 40 years and two men aged 42 and 45 years) were arrested and detained under Section 4 – Criminal Justice Act, 1984 in Crumlin and Ashbourne Garda Stations and were later released.
They were arrested for offences under the Copyright and Related Rights Act, 2000, and the Criminal Justice (Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing) Act, 2010.
This operation is the culmination of an investigation by An Garda Síochána into the illegal streaming of TV content including pay per view products.
It has been carried out in conjunction with police forces in England and Scotland, while Europol has provided assistance on this Day of Action and Europol officers are on the ground with Gardaí in Ireland.
Additional significant support is being provided by some of the major TV companies and the Motion Picture Association.
The operation yesterday is supported by the Criminal Assets Bureau, the Garda National Cyber Crime Bureau and local Gardaí in Crumlin and Ashbourne.
Detective Superintendent George Kyne of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation said: “This is an organised criminal enterprise where consumers are funding criminality and depriving genuine industry of legitimate revenue. Consumers are providing their payment details to unknown individuals and leaving themselves open to being the victims of fraud and/or data theft.
“The security around these devices and illegal streaming platforms exposes customers and leaves their home systems vulnerable. It is important that the public is aware of the impact of illegal streaming and its consequences.”
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