European police officials said Wednesday they have smashed what they called the world's biggest pirate streaming TV network with five million customers in Italy alone.
Italian police stormed various locations while police in Bulgaria, France, Germany, Greece and the Netherlands also carried out raids coordinated by the EU's judicial cooperation agency Eurojust.
Police arrested at least 23 suspects as part of the ongoing operation against Xtream Codes, an alleged illegal pirating operation which Eurojust said caused damages worth some 6.5 million euros ($7.2 million) to the market.
Italian financial police said the operation had "deactivated the largest international pirate pay TV streaming network".