Garda raids on houses in Dundalk early on Saturday morning netted close to 1,000 pirated DVDs including current box office hits in the US, hard-core pornography and general and children's titles.
Five men were arrested, and files will be prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions.
Gardaí believe that the counterfeited goods would have been sold at markets covering a large geographical area, stretching from Balbriggan in north Co Dublin to Cavan, Monaghan, Meath, Louth and Armagh.
Among nearly 50 different titles that had been copied were Elf, Calendar Girls, Matrix Revolution, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Extraordinary League of Gentlemen, Finding Nemo and Christmas with The Simpsons. There were also a number of adult pornography titles.
The planned searches of six houses took place in a number of different housing estates in the town around 6.30 a.m. and were part of Operation Pine, a joint anti-counterfeiting operation involving Dundalk gardaí and the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Colour printers, dozens of printer cartridges, colour copies of original movie sleeves, a paper guillotine and numerous blank CDs were also seized. "We believe that the main people operating this counterfeiting ring were actually supplying the people who sell the pirated goods at such markets. In the north-east region they would be regarded as being the 'Pirate Kings' so to speak," said one source.
In one house gardaí also found two imitation pistols which were similar to imitation firearms that are openly on sale at Jonesboro market in Armagh, and a two-way radio. They do not believe they are an indication of subversive involvement.
The value of the goods seized yesterday was conservatively put at €250,000, but this is based on an average of what the pirated copies are sold for, around €10 each, and what the genuine article retails at, that is anywhere between €25 and up to €60.
"People involved in counterfeiting are putting huge pressure on normal retailers who just cannot compete with the low prices, and as a result jobs are under threat," said an industry source.
Meanwhile, a number of men have been charged by gardaí under the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 in relation to previous seizures of counterfeit DVDs in Louth. The men were released on bail to appear at Dundalk District Court next Wednesday.
In Cork on Saturday, counterfeited goods worth €1 million were seized at four houses in the city. The goods included CDs, DVDs, and clothing. The raids were carried out by gardaí at 8.15 a.m. and the investigation is continuing under the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000.