Interpol Close OiNK Music Download Site

OiNK, one of the world’s biggest sources of illegally downloaded music, has been shut down after an operation by Interpol.

The operation – which united British and Dutch police forces – came after the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) revealed that the members only download site had already leaked sixty pre-release albums this year.

Interpol raided properties in both England and Holland as part of the investigation - which resulted in an arrest of an IT worker at a house in Middlesbrough.

The twenty-four year old man is currently being held and questioned by police under the infringement of copyright law, as well as conspiracy to defraud, reports the BBC.

According to the IFPI, members were only allowed to join OiNK if they could prove that they had music that could be distributed within the membership.

A spokesperson said: "They were encouraged to distribute recordings in the torrent file format with other OiNK members, and have to keep posting such music to the site to maintain their membership.

"Once an album had been posted on the OiNK website, the users that download that music then passed the content to other websites, forums and blogs, where multiple copies were made.”

In order to maintain their membership, users were also asked to make voluntary donations to the site via credit card, a Cleveland Police spokesman said.