Operation DisrupTor: Narcotics trafficking on the Dark Web results in 91 arrests – News



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Operation DisrupTor, led by a coalition of law enforcement agencies from around the world, resulted in 91 arrests of suspects who were buying and selling illicit products on the Dark Web. This teardown provided investigators with quantitative data and materials to identify the suspects behind the company’s accounts. Dark Web used for illegal activities.

In all, 91 vendors were arrested, allegedly involved in tens of thousands of sales of illicit products. The suspects were detained across Europe (19 in Germany, 3 in Austria, 3 in the UK, 5 in the Netherlands, and one in Sweden. In the United States, 60 suspects were arrested, along with an additional $ 3 million in cash. and quantities of narcotic drugs were also seized, including amphetamines, cannabis, heroin, cocaine, MDMA and drugs containing substances classified as psychotropic.

Investigation to identify other people with accounts on the Dark Web continues. The result presented was the result of several joint operations, albeit separately, but complemented and coordinated by Europol and Eurojust, including the group’s Judicial Police. international police forces. The goal was to have a global impact on the sale of illicit goods on the online black market.

According to Edvardas Šileris, Director of Europol’s European Cybercrime Center (EC3), “Law enforcement is more effective when working together, and today’s announcement sends a strong message to criminals who sell or buy illicit products in the Dark Web. : The hidden Internet is no longer hidden and your anonymous activity is not anonymous. The police are committed to locating and capturing criminals, regardless of where they operate: whether on the street or behind a computer screen ”.

International authorities are confident that the “golden times” of the Dark Web are over. And that these types of operations demonstrate the capacity of crime fighting agencies, in this case the encryption and anonymity of the Dark Web markets. “The police not only dismantle these illegal markets: they also persecute criminals who buy and sell illegal goods through those sites,” he said in the statement.

In the form of a “message”, the authorities note that users who intend to buy illegal products on the Dark Web are exposed to several dangers, including access to potentially deadly illegal drugs such as fentanyl or other counterfeit substances. Users can be victims of cyber fraud or expose their computers to malicious software. The authorities can also detect illicit transactions back to their origin, either to the buyer or the seller. Buyers are also subject to responding to the law in various countries.

Editorial note: news update at 4:00 p.m. with more information.

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