Under the supervision of Sofia City Prosecutor's Office and Sofia District Prosecutor's Office, teams from the National Investigation Service, State Agency for National Security and General Directorate for Combating Organized Crime within the Ministry of the Interior conducted searches and seizures at 30 addresses across the country. Acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov personally coordinated the actions of Bulgarian institutions with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Athens office of Homeland Security Investigations, the Sofia office of Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Department of Justice, International Computer Hacking and Intellectual Property’s Bucharest office.
The coordinated operation targeted three of the largest torrent platforms based in the European Union for the illegal distribution of copyright-protected materials. The operation identified the individuals who administered the torrent trackers ArenaBG, Zamunda and Zelka, thereby providing unregulated access to films, music, games, software and other forms of intellectual property. Actions have been taken to stop access to illegal content and remove the platforms. Numerous computer configurations, equipment and other electronic evidence were seized, through which crimes against intellectual property were committed, pursuant to Art. 172a, para. 2 of the Bulgarian Penal Code.
Bulgarian prosecution agencies will evaluate the collected evidence and bring charges against the people involved in the distribution of pirated content on the internet. The operation included searches of residential addresses, offices of accounting firms, and other locations, where investigators also collected evidence of money laundering. Bulgarian investigative agencies will conduct a comprehensive computer-forensic examination of the seized electronic devices.
Acting Prosecutor General Borislav Sarafov congratulated the teams of the Bulgarian and American law enforcement agencies for the successful coordinated operation, emphasizing its importance for strengthening lasting operational cooperation in eliminating cybercrime and intellectual property crime.