Authorities arrest members of Sparks release group and take 60 servers offline – IT Pro – News

The US Department of Justice and Europol have conducted a global operation against the Sparks release group. Two members have been arrested and raids have taken place in nineteen countries. Sixty servers have been taken offline, including in the Netherlands.

The arrests and the downing of the servers follow one after another official charge of the United States Department of Justice against three members of the release group. These are men aged 36, 39 and 50 from the United Kingdom, the United States and Norway. Two of the three suspects have been arrested; this happened in Cyprus and in Olathe in Kansas, USA. The third suspect, from Norway, is still on the run.

In recent days, a major operation has been conducted against the release group, reported Europol. On the basis of the US indictment, law enforcement agencies in eighteen other countries cooperated in the operation. A total of sixty servers were taken offline worldwide, including in the Netherlands. Europol states that the operation dismantled an alleged network of criminals who infringe on copyrights.

Sparks is known for uploading DVDs and Blu-rays. The release group has illegally released hundreds of films and series before their official release, including “virtually every film from major US production studios.” Members of the group would obtain the source material by posing as a distributor of DVDs and Blu-rays.

According to TorrentFreak is the American indictment against leaders of the Sparks release group. These include the members known by the nicknames Raid and and Artist. The members would also be involved in other release groups, such as Geckos, Drones, Rovers and Splinters. Sources tell the site that there have been several raids in Europe, especially Norway and Sweden.