Police in Europe and the United States announced the arrest of 150 people who allegedly bought and sold large quantities of drugs, weapons and other illegal goods on the dark web.
Europol and US officials said they had confiscated millions of euros in cash and virtual currencies during the 10-month operation Dark Hunter launched an online underground trading market.
Major dealers of counterfeit drugs, which are often stained with dangerous substances like fentanyl, have been arrested on the dark web, he said.
Most of the arrests, which took place over several months, were in the United States, involving 65 people; Germany, 47; and Britain 24. Others came from Bulgaria, France, the Netherlands, Italy and Switzerland.
The arrests came after a similar joint operation led by the Germans seized the largest illegal marketplace on the dark web, Darkmarket, in January.
By acquiring Darkmarket, authorities were able to break through the layers of anonymity that protected merchants and trace transactions back to their origins.
Europol’s deputy director of operations said, “The purpose of such operations is to give notice to criminals operating on the dark web (that) the law enforcement community has the means to expose them and hold them accountable for their illegal activities, and that the global partnership.” Jean-Philippe Lakoff said.
US officials told a news conference in Washington that the illicit drug trade has moved more to the dark web in the US COVID-19 global pandemic.
He said that in addition to direct sales of illicit narcotics such as cocaine, amphetamines and ecstasy, many of the drugs being sold were generic prescription drugs such as Adderall, Xanax and OxyContin, but contained other dangerous substances such as fentanyl and methamphetamine.
high-value targets
US Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said 90 percent of the more than 200,000 pills seized on the US side of the operation contained “spurious opioids or other narcotics” such as the extremely dangerous fentanyl.
Speaking in Washington, Lakoff said that most of those arrested were high-value targets, “among the most prolific or sensitive actors on the dark web.”
The US Justice Department said the US arrest involved a major operation in Houston, Texas, that took anonymous orders online and shipped drugs via mail to buyers across the country.
Overall, the operation earned 26.7 million euros (about Rs 230 crore) in cash and virtual currencies, as well as 45 guns, and 234 kg (516 lb) of drugs, mostly amphetamines, ecstasy, cocaine and opioids.
In parallel with Operation Dark Hunter, officials said that Italian police had closed two similar underground markets called “Deepsee” and “Berlusconi”.
Italian markets claimed more than 100,000 declarations of illegal products, said Europol, which coordinated the operation with its twin judicial agency Eurojust.
According to a French police officer, the arrest of three people in France in Operation Dark Hunter led to the closure of another dark web trading site called “Le Monde Parallel” or “Parallel World”.
TU Delft University cybercrime investigator Rolf van Wegberg said the operation signaled a change in the investigation of online crime.
“Operations like this in the past focused on arresting the controllers of these marketplaces. Now we see police services targeting top sellers,” he told Dutch KRO-NCRV public broadcaster.
Monaco told reporters that the operation showed that there was no real protection for trafficking on the dark web, where anonymity is considered secure by the TOR browser.
“People who are trading illegal drugs and think they are safe behind layers of digital anonymity: My message to you is simple. There is no dark internet. We can and we will shine a light,” she said.
.