The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has asked Slovak police for assistance in its search for 35-year-old Július Bencko, a Slovak citizen charged in the Megaupload case, the TASR newswire reported.
The United States has charged Bencko, from Košice, of belonging to an international criminal group that is alleged to have engaged in gross violations of copyright via the Megaupload.com server.
“An official co-operation request from the US has been delivered to the Police Corps, with the Slovak police deciding to oblige,” said police spokesperson Michal Slivka, as quoted by TASR, adding that the police would cooperate with the American side in a normal way as in other cases, within the framework of valid legislation.
Apart from Bencko, who served as the graphic designer for Megaupload, three Germans, an Estonian and a 29-year-old man with dual Dutch-New Zealand citizenship face similar charges. Police in New Zealand have already arrested the leader of the group, German-Finnish computer programmer and founder of Megaupload Kim Dotcom.
The accused men are alleged to have facilitated the illegal downloading of movies, music and other copyrighted content via the internet site Megaupload.com, with damage estimated at €388 million, according to the US authorities.
Source: TASR
For more information about this story please see: Slovak man charged in US in connection with Megaupload.com website.
Compiled by Radka Minarechová from press reports
The Slovak Spectator cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information presented in its Flash News postings.
