This article about software piracy in Italy in the 80s and 90s was linked here some time ago: https://genesistemple.com/a-swashbuckling-tale-of-italian-so... – seems to be very similar to your story in Portugal.

I don't think it was that extreme here in Germany, but I do recall my father coming home various times throughout the years with cases containing ~20-50 3.5" floppy disks for our Atari STs that were either completely unlabeled or with hand-written or home-printed labels. Always interesting finding out how to start each game and looking at the colourful intros.