One of the nation's largest bootleg compact disc operations has been stopped, federal authorities in Atlanta announced Thursday.

The counterfeiters allegedly manufactured $50 million worth of illegally copied albums by Ja Rule, Ludacris, Britney Spears, Eminem and numerous other artists, according to the U.S. attorney's office.

"The people from the recording industry have told us this is clearly the largest counterfeit CD operation in the Southeast and among the largest they have seen in the country," U.S. Attorney William Duffey said Thursday.

Authorities seized 127,000 music CDs in a Nov. 7 raid in south Atlanta, four days after a federal grand jury indicted six men on 15 record pirating and conspiracy charges. Duffey, Atlanta Police Chief Richard Pennington and FBI Special Agent in Charge Theodore Jackson announced the bust at a news conference in downtown Atlanta.