A crackdown on what the Italian police have described as an “international ring” of satellite television card pirates has yielded 133 suspects in Italy and abroad, according to Italian media reports.

In addition to Italian suspects, who have been raided, the Italian police have also identified suspects in Malta, Poland, Greece, France and Holland.

Searches were also said to have been carried out in Malta and the other countries.

According to the Italian media reports, the public prosecutor in Syracuse, Sicily is preparing indictments against 26 Italians while international arrest warrants have been issued with respect to 37 suspects abroad. It is not known if or how many Maltese have had arrest warrants issued against them

A total of some 3,000 pirated satellite cards, 2,000 card cloning devices, 102 computers and e50,000 in cash were seized during the raids, which formed part of a vast operation carried out by the Guardia di Finanza di Siracusa, dubbed operation ‘Smart House’.

Among the accused, according to media reports, is a certain Davide Rossi – general-secretary of the European anti-piracy body, the Association Européenne pour la Protection des Œuvres et services Cryptés (AEPOC). The investigation is said to have uncovered other heads of anti-piracy groups as having been hackers’ accomplices.

The investigation was carried out over three years and dealt with the cloning of satellite TV cards. The investigations had begun with a substantial seizure of cards programmed to illegally decrypt the Sky network signal. Investigations into the initial seizure had led to the uncovering of the “international ring”.

The turnover of the entire operation is estimated at e30 million per year.