BRITISH and Dutch police said they shut down the website OiNK on Tuesday, the world's biggest source of pirated pre-release chart albums.

OiNK distributed albums often weeks ahead of their official release date. More than 60 major album releases had been leaked onto the internet so far this year.

The site had an estimated membership of 180 000. People were only invited to become members if they could prove they had music to offer and had to keep posting tracks to maintain their membership.

It is alleged the site was operated by a 24-year-old man who lived near Middlesbrough in north-east England. He was arrested on Tuesday. The site's servers, based in Amsterdam, were seized in raids last week.

The Interpol-coordinated raids followed a two-year investigation by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry bodies.

'OiNK was central to the illegal distribution of pre-release music online,' said Jeremy Banks, head of the IFPI's internet anti-piracy unit. 'This was not a case of friends sharing music for pleasure. This was a worldwide network that got hold of music they did not own the rights to and posted it online.'