The FBI Tuesday raided three homes in New York for computers suspected of being used by members of the Internet vigilante hacking group Anonymous, an agency spokesman said.

One residence in Brooklyn and two others on Long Island were searched for computers and computer-related accessories. At least one laptop was removed from one of the homes, the FBI said.

No one was arrested.

The searches are in connection to an ongoing investigation, FBI spokesman Peter Donald said.

Anonymous, a grass-roots organization inspired by WikiLeaks and its founder Julian Assange, claimed to have broken into Apple Inc servers earlier this month.

It also launched attacks in December that temporarily shut down sites of MasterCard Inc and Visa Inc using simple software tools freely available over the Internet.

Anonymous also has released scores of private e-mails and other data from an Arizona police website.

The group teamed up with the Lulz Security group of hackers in June. LulzSec has breached websites of Sony Corp, the CIA and a British police unit.

(Reporting by Basil Katz and Christine Kearney, editing by Mark Egan)

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