The Rocky star's 2014 blockbuster The Expendables 3 emerged online weeks before its release and was reportedly downloaded illegally more than two million times, costing Stallone and the Lionsgate film studio millions of dollars.

Police in the U.K. launched a joint investigation along with members of America's Homeland Security department and the probe yielded an arrest on Thursday.

A 26-year-old man from Halifax in England was detained in Leeds, England for questioning by detectives from Britain's Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) and Stallone has now thanked the U.K. authorities for persevering with the case.

He says in a statement, "I'd like to thank the Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit (PIPCU) at the City of London Police for working with U.S. Homeland Security Investigations to apprehend the suspect in this case. It is important to protect the rights of creatives around the world from theft."

Matthew Etre, a representative for the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) team, adds, "This arrest is yet another success story highlighting what strong, collaborative relationships between law enforcement agencies can accomplish."