According to the IFPI, a policeman and a court official were among 35 people arrested in a major crackdown in the Italian town of Pescara. Other arrest were made in Rome.

"Operation Crack" was aimed at breaking an organised criminal gang that was producing and distributing counterfeit CDs, DVDs and video games. The official from the Civil Court of Pescara and the policeman played a major role in the pirate gang, as did a clerk working for the Ministry of the Interior.

The investigation was coordinated by Aldo Aceto, the public prosecutor from Pescara, and was carried out by local police assisted by music, movie and business software anti-piracy experts as well as SIAE, the authors' collecting society anti-piracy team.

More than 12 CD burning facilities were found and dismantled in and around Pescara and police officers also seized more than €400,000 in cash.

In separate developments, the police in Rome secured a record seizure of illegal CD and DVD reproduction equipment. The Anti-Piracy Unit of the city’s police force was assisted by experts from the music, film and software federations in seizing 113 burners, the largest haul of such illegal apparatus in its history.

The illegal copying facility was found in a house in Rome’s Ponte di Nona district during Operation Spring Master, a four-month investigation into street vendors selling counterfeit CDs and DVDs across the city. The leader of the organization running the plant was arrested to help the police with their enquiries.

Story filed 15.07.07