HOLLYWOOD – A high-level source in the American recording industry has confirmed the stunning apprehension of seven of the world’s most notorious fugitives from justice, each of whom is charged with violating copyright legislation enacted to prevent the pirating of music over the Internet.

The captures occurred after each suspect provided a locating IP address logging onto the Kazaa file-swapping network and uploaded music, videos, and software intended for private use only.

“This is a great day for artists everywhere,” exclaimed former Sony Records chairman Tommy Mottola. “It’s safe to say we just landed a crushing blow in the ‘War on Sharing Art With Your Neighbor’, and we’re not about to stop here.”

The seven, who are charged with providing worldwide access to works ranging from Madonna to Cat Stevens, were being held at an “undisclosed location” until their anticipated transfer to Santa Monica Bay later this week. Interrogators from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) are reportedly en route to the makeshift facility, where nearly 3,000 “e-criminals” have already been detained.

“The entertainment world is a more profitable place,” proclaimed RIAA chief Hillary Rosen, “and humanity rejoices in the triumph… The scourge of piracy has met its match.”

Sources revealed that among the detained was Osama bin Laden, a Saudi millionaire who downloaded nearly 1,200 files on computers from such locales as Riyadh, Karachi, and (most recently) Lynchburg, Tennessee.

“Osama’s the big one,” said one exec. “The level of sheer arrogance he displayed in providing bootleg outtakes from The Beatles’ ‘White Album’ sessions is beyond compare. He got lazy, though, and uploaded several unreleased tracks from Jessica Simpson’s forthcoming album, In the Skin (Aug. 19), and that’s how we caught up with him.”

Other suspects included the aptly named Green River Killer, Mrs. Beatrice Wagner of Waukegan, Illinois, and the Apache Indian known simply as Geronimo, who cleverly faked his own death in 1909, but managed to upload several hundred recordings from the legendary Robert Goulet in just the past ten weeks.

Global watchdog Amnesty International, however, has taken exception to some of the tactics reportedly used at Santa Monica to extricate important information from detainees.

“The smothering (of prisoners) in register receipts from Tower Records is a reprehensible practice,” said Amnesty spokeswoman Melissa Clarridge. “We call on the RIAA to provide access to international observers immediately in this matter.”

In related news, the unexpected turn of events has prompted the RIAA to lower its Threat Assessment Rating (TAR) from 78 to 45 rpm.