Some 150 National Police officers undertook an unprecedented operation on Tuesday evening which targeted bars and other establishments that were showing football matches. Tuesday was a Champions League evening; Real Madrid were playing.
There were simultaneous raids at five minutes past nine on bars in Calvia, Inca, Llucmajor, Manacor, Marratxi and Palma. Illegal decoders were seized in an operation against the pirating of broadcasting signals in transmitting games involving La Liga clubs - Real Madrid in this instance. Police officers, it would seem, had made themselves personally familiar with bars where matches were being shown by apparently using decoders or internet applications.
The fraud involves the purchasing of apparatus for capturing signals or a licence for private use which is then used via a closed circuit network. Bar owners are being investigated for fraud and offences against intellectual property. The police have put a value on this fraud - 103,258 euros.
