WARSAW, Aug 23 (AFP) - Polish police said on Monday they had smashed a large-scale computer piracy network, spanning several countries which dealt in computer programmes, films and music.
"Police in Gorzow Wielkopolski (western Poland) wound up an organised group of computer pirates, involving more than 100 people and active in Poland, the United States, Australia, Britain and Slovakia," police spokeswoman Agata Salatka told AFP.
Several people, including five young Polish computer programmers who are considered the group's leaders were arrested and face up to eight years in prison, she said.
The pirates hacked into the computers of universities and technical institutes in several countries, using the large memory of the powerful computers to stock, without the knowledge of the owners, the most modern programmes, music, games and the most recent films, Salatka said.
They then sold them on the black market.
The gang was dismantled after being shadowed by the police in Gorzow Wielkopolski last October, in collaboration with the FBI and police in Britain and Slovakia, she added.
In Poland, which joined the European Union on May 1, pirated good, including the most recent films which have not yet hit the country's cinema screens, are often sold on open-air markets.