Six people have been charged in connection with a major police inquiry into an alleged international piracy scam.

Cleveland Police today confirmed that a 25-year-old Middlesbrough man had been charged with conspiracy to defraud.

Five other people face charges relating to alleged copyright infringement.

In October, officers from the Organised Crime Unit swooped on a Middlesbrough home.

A man was arrested in the raid - the first of its kind in Britain - on a terraced house in Grange Road, Middlesbrough.

At the same moment, Cleveland Police officers, Interpol and Dutch police raided an address in Amsterdam where a computer server was thought to be located.

It is alleged the operation involved a private file sharing website with a worldwide membership of 180,000 people.

Police said the operation uncovered the alleged illegal use of a website called Oink, which was said to have been set up and run from the Middlesbrough house.

A spokeswoman for Cleveland Police said today: ?One man has been charged with conspiracy to defraud and five others with copyright infringement offences.

?They will appear at Teesside Magistrates? Court on September 24.?
DJ Norix Reviewed by DJ Norix on . Six face computer piracy charges after raids Six people have been charged in connection with a major police inquiry into an alleged international piracy scam. Cleveland Police today confirmed that a 25-year-old Middlesbrough man had been charged with conspiracy to defraud. Five other people face charges relating to alleged copyright infringement. In October, officers from the Organised Crime Unit swooped on a Middlesbrough home. A man was arrested in the raid - the first of its kind in Britain - on a terraced house in Grange Rating: 5