Round up of Major Dark Web Drug Bust – 150 arrests made and €26 Million ($31 Million) in cash seized

Image credit: Europol

EUROPOL: 150 Arrested In Dark Web Drug Bust As Police Seize €26 Million

Police forces across the world have arrested 150 alleged suspects involved in buying or selling illicit goods on the dark web as part of a coordinated international operation involving nine countries.

More than €26.7 million (USD 31 million) in cash and virtual currencies have been seized in this operation, as well as 234 kg of drugs and 45 firearms. The seized drugs include 152 kg of amphetamine, 27 kg of opioids and over 25 000 ecstasy pills…Read in full here: https://www.europol.europa.eu/newsroom/news/150-arrested-in-dark-web-drug-bust-police-seize-€26-million

EUROJUST: 150 arrested in dark web drug bust as police seize EUR 26 million

Police forces across the world have arrested 150 alleged suspects involved in buying or selling illicit goods on the dark web as part of a coordinated international operation involving nine countries. More than EUR 26.7 million (USD 31 million) in cash and virtual currencies have been seized in this operation, as well as 234 kg of drugs and 45 firearms. The seized drugs include 152 kg of amphetamine, 27 kg of opioids and over 25 000 ecstasy pills.

This operation, known as Dark HunTOR was composed of a series of separate but complementary actions in Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, with coordination efforts led by Europol and Eurojust…Read in full here: https://www.eurojust.europa.eu/150-arrested-dark-web-drug-bust-police-seize-eur-26-million

NATIONAL CRIME AGENCY (NCA): International operation targets dark web drugs marketplace

Twenty-four people have been arrested in the UK in one of the largest ever international operations targeting a criminal dark web marketplace.

Operational activity over the last six months – coordinated by the National Crime Agency in collaboration with UK policing partners – also resulted in the seizure of over £220,000 in suspected criminal cash and bitcoin, and more than 50 kilos of cocaine, MDMA, cannabis, methamphetamine and ketamine.

The operation, known as Dark HunTOR, began when German authorities arrested the marketplace’s alleged operator earlier this year and gained access to the wider criminal infrastructure. This enabled officers to share intelligence packages with law enforcement agencies around the world on the site’s vendors and buyers…Read in full here: https://www.nationalcrimeagency.gov.uk/news/international-operation-targets-dark-web-drugs-marketplace

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION (FBI): With Overdose Deaths at a Historic High, FBI and Partners Target Online Drug Markets

In a conference room space used by the partner agencies that form the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team, an FBI analyst is examining the online marketplaces that have made it possible for users to get potentially deadly drugs delivered to their doors.

These sites exist on the dark web or darknet, an area of the internet accessed through a specialized browser called Tor. Tor offers additional levels of privacy by obscuring the user’s IP address and encrypting information. But the markets themselves look like standard e-commerce sites, complete with pictures, customer reviews, and listings for not only drugs like cocaine and methamphetamine but what sellers claim are brand name prescription medications…Read in full here: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/fbi-and-partners-target-online-drug-markets-102621

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (DOJ): International Law Enforcement Operation Targeting Opioid Traffickers on the Darknet Results in 150 Arrests Worldwide and the Seizure of Weapons, Drugs, and over $31 Million

Today, the Department of Justice, through the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team joined Europol to announce the results of Operation Dark HunTor, a coordinated international effort on three continents to disrupt opioid trafficking on the Darknet. The operation, which was conducted across the United States, Australia, and Europe, was a result of the continued partnership between JCODE and foreign law enforcement against the illegal sale of drugs and other illicit goods and services. Operation Dark HunTor builds on the success of last year’s Operation DisrupTor and the coordinated law enforcement takedown earlier this year of DarkMarket, the world’s then-largest illegal marketplace on the Darknet. At the time, German authorities arrested the marketplace’s alleged operator and seized the site’s infrastructure, providing investigators across the world with a trove of evidence…Read in full here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/international-law-enforcement-operation-targeting-opioid-traffickers-darknet-results-150

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (DOJ): Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr. of the Criminal Division Delivers Remarks on Operation Dark HunTor

Operation Dark HunTor stands as our most recent victory in the global fight against cyber-enabled drug trafficking.  The online trafficking of opioids, particularly fentanyl, poses a lethal threat to not only the United States, but also to our European and Australian counterparts, and beyond. This is a global threat that requires a global response. Our communities now face the constant threat of relatively easy access to dangerous illicit drugs now being peddled not on a street corner but in cyber space. Operation Dark HunTor highlights both the magnitude of this lethal threat, and the significant efforts we are taking at the Department of Justice to address it…Read in full here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/assistant-attorney-general-kenneth-polite-jr-criminal-division-delivers-remarks-operation

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE (DOJ): Deputy Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco Delivers Remarks on Operation Dark HunTor

We are here today to expose those who seek the shadows of the internet to peddle killer pills worldwide. Thanks to unprecedented international law enforcement collaboration — 150 Darknet drug traffickers have been arrested around the world — including 65 here in the Untied States.

Led by the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, an international law enforcement partnership — also known as JCODE — Operation Dark HunTor spanned 10 months, three continents, and more than 12 international law enforcement agencies. The graphic you see on screen reflects what can be achieved through global cooperation — including the recovery of more than 500 pounds of illegal drugs, which contained enough fentanyl for more than four million lethal doses. This operation seized nearly $32 million in cash and virtual currencies — the largest JCODE seizure to date…Read in full here: https://www.justice.gov/opa/speech/deputy-attorney-general-lisa-o-monaco-delivers-remarks-operation-dark-huntor