According to AFP the raid formed part a crackdown by police in 14 European countries on an online film pirating network called ‘The Scene’ (or ‘the Warez Scene’ according to TorrentFreak). This network is responsible for illegally copying and releasing movies before they were available on DVD.

 

Raids were conducted on 48 sites across Europe, with seven locations targeted in Sweden. Paul Pinter, a Swedish police officer from the minor crimes unit, did point out that the raids were specifically targeted at ‘The Scene’ and not the whistleblowing website WikiLeaks. WikiLeaks earlier this year released 76 900 documents about the War in Afganistan, bringing the American government and its allies under intense scrutiny.

 

TorrentFreak reported that apart from Sweden several raids were also conducted in Great Britain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Czech Republic and Hungary.