Major illegal Sky Sports streaming network used by 22m to watch Premier League games is shut down with 5 UK homes raided

ONE of the world's biggest amerciable streaming networks alleged to amusement thousands of premium channels astatine a chopped terms has been unopen down.

It's claimed the sites hosted movies, TV bid and 2,500 channels specified arsenic Sky Sports.

A immense constabulary cognition spanning respective countries crossed Europe searched much than a 100 houses.

Five addresses successful the UK were raided arsenic portion of the latest effort against piracy.

Law enforcement, with enactment by Europol and Eurojust, identified 102 suspects passim Europe and 11 radical were arrested.

At slightest 29 servers were seized on with astir 270 pieces of IPTV instrumentality allegedly utilized to facilitate the operation.

A 100 domains person been taken offline arsenic a result.

"This sends a beardown connection that, alongside our partners, we are committed to dismantling pirate networks crossed borders and holding their ringleaders accountable," said Matt Hibbert, Group Director of Anti-Piracy at Sky.

"We volition proceed supporting efforts to extremity integer piracy and support consumers from the risks of these amerciable services."

The web is thought to person made much than £208million successful gross per month.

Police took astir £1.3million successful cryptocurrency and £33,000 successful currency from properties associated with the scheme, arsenic good arsenic assorted drugs and weapons.

UK constabulary worked with counterparts from Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Romania, Sweden and Switzerland to bring down the sites.

The biggest portion of the constabulary cognition was carried retired successful Italy, wherever 270 officers searched 89 properties successful 15 Italian regions.

Mark Mulready, co-president of the Audiovisual Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAPA) - whose members see Sky and the Premier League - warned: "We volition proceed to intimately collaborate with instrumentality enforcement agencies successful Europe and beyond to alteration them to successfully identify, analyse and prosecute large-scale cross-border pirate networks."

Police person carried retired a fig of raids successful caller years successful a bid to bring an extremity to amerciable streaming networks.

In July, 1 of the UK's biggest amerciable streaming crackdowns by constabulary and IP extortion organisation FACT took place, starring to 40 amerciable streaming operators being stung with warnings.

Figures from the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) amusement that the yearly nonaccomplishment to the system done counterfeiting and piracy is £9billion.

An adept precocious told The Sun that cyber criminals tin usage jailbroken streaming gadgets to interruption into your Wi-Fi and past onto different physics devices connected the aforesaid network.