US authorities on Tuesday arrested 16 people for cyber crimes including 14 over an online attack on the PayPal website claimed by the hacking group "Anonymous," the Department of Justice said.
The US indictment against the 14 hackers alleges the denial of service (DDoS) attacks on PayPal were "retribution" because the site terminated a donation account for the whistle-blowing group WikiLeaks.
The Paypal attack suspects were arrested in raids in Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Washington DC, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada, New Mexico and Ohio, US officials said in a statement.
Two suspects were arrested under separate indictments but similar charges in Florida and New Jersey, while British police arrested one suspect and Dutch police four, it said.
In all FBI agents made 35 raids across the US as part of a probe into "coordinated cyber attacks against major companies and organizations," the FBI said.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
Anonymous, an international hackers group, rose to fame with a series of attacks on websites linked to the Church of Scientology.
The group gained further prominence after launching retaliatory attacks on companies perceived to be enemies of the whistle-blowing website Wikileaks.
Anonymous sabotaged Turkish sites also last month to protest against Internet censorship.
