Dark web drug raid leads to 179 arrests

Police forces around the world have seized more than $ 6.5 million (£ 5 million) in cash and virtual currencies, as well as drugs and weapons in a coordinated raid on dark web markets.

Some 179 people were arrested in Europe and the United States, and 500 kg (1,102 pounds) of drugs and 64 weapons were seized.

“The hidden Internet is no longer hidden,” said Edvardas Sileris, director of Europol’s cybercrime center.

The operation, known as DisrupTor, was a joint effort between the Department of Justice and Europol. The criminals are believed to have participated in tens of thousands of sales of illicit goods and services in the United States and Europe.

Seized drugs, including fentanyl, oxycodone, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, and MDMA.

Of those arrested, 119 were based in the United States, two in Canada, 42 in Germany, eight in the Netherlands, four in the United Kingdom, three in Austria and one in Sweden.

The police are getting better at targeting operations on the dark web, a part of the internet that can only be accessed through specialized tools. This latest raid follows the takedown of the Wall Street market last year, which was then thought to be the second-largest illegal online market on the dark web.

Sileris said: “Law enforcement is most effective when working together, and today’s announcement sends a strong message to criminals selling or buying illicit products on the dark web: the hidden internet is no longer hidden and its Anonymous activity is not anonymous. “

“With the increase in opioid-related overdose deaths during the Covid-19 pandemic, we recognize that today’s announcement is important and timely,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

Kacey Clark, a researcher specialist in monitoring the dark web Digital Shadows, said: “This is yet another blow to organized cyber crime. The operation that brought down the AlphaBay and Hansa markets three years ago scared cyber criminals as it resulted in many follow-up processes like law enforcement collected the evidence, often many months later.

“The Wall Street market came out of these ashes and was the most important one in existence at the time. It would seem that law enforcement has followed the same pattern and that is why we are seeing arrests today.