Police simultaneously raided two homes on Spring Street in Beechworth and Batchelor Crescent in Wangaratta on Thursday morning.

Nine officers searched the properties about 9am after an eight month investigation, with computers, mobile phones, stolen identification, and a computer seized.

Police had been investigating how a stolen police interview recorded in August 2014 was published on YouTube.

The video was posted on December 31 and has been removed at the request of police.

It is illegal for people to publish records of interviews online.

The matter has links to Operation Juliet, which saw an alleged Wangaratta drug syndicate dismantled last year and drugs, including methamphetamine, seized during raids. 

Sergeant Peter McGuffie said it was an unusual case and a matter that rarely came to police attention.

“We’ve got a master copy of the interview locked away, the informant in the case gets an audio copy, and the suspect gets an audiovisual copy,” he said.

“We’re trying to work out where it went missing.

“We’re alleging the interview was stolen, but we’re still to determine how it was stolen.”

The Wangaratta man depicted in the interview was not the person who published it online and is considered to be the victim in the case.

It is believed the victim knew the interview had been published online. 

A 32-year-old Beechworth man has been charged with stalking, firearms and drug offences, and an offence under the Crimes Act for being an unauthorised person publishing a record of interview.

A 30-year-old Wangaratta woman has been charged with handling stolen goods.

The alleged offenders are believed to have known the victim. 

Sergeant McGuffie said police had traced the source of the video before executing the search warrants.

“Everything is traceable,” he said.

“I can’t believe how stupid people can be, putting stuff like this on the internet knowing it can be traced.”

Several calibres of ammunition were found during the raids, Sergeant McGuffie said.

Investigators from the Wangaratta Divisional Tasking Unit reminded people it is an offence under the Crimes Act to publish a record of interview on social media. 

The pair were bailed by police.

They will reappear at the Wangaratta Magistrates Court on November 16.