International Police Made a Huge Dark Web Bust

Law enforcement agencies around the world have arrested 288 people suspected of buying or selling drugs on the dark web. In a pair of press releases posted on Tuesday, the US Department of Justice and Europol said that the joint effort also resulted in the shutdown of the dark web marketplace, Monopoly Market.

The operation, codenamed Spectre, was carried out with the cooperation of nine countries, including the US, the UK, Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Brazil and Switzerland. While 155 arrests were made in the US, authorities seized $53.4 million in cash and digital currencies, 850 kg (or 1,873 lbs) of drugs, and 117 firearms worldwide.

According to CyberScope, the Monopoly market has been on the dark web since 2019 and has since been operating as a hub where criminals can buy and sell drugs. Europol said German authorities would dismantle the site's criminal infrastructure in 2021, which was "the basis of hundreds of national investigations". Law enforcement also obtained buyer lists from the site's illegal sellers, resulting in "thousands" more arrests worldwide.

It comes just months after international law enforcement raided the homes of individuals with suspected links to a cybercrime group that stole millions from large companies and hospitals. Last year, Germany shut down servers of the infamous Russian darknet marketplace Hydra and confiscated €23 million worth of bitcoin. International authorities cooperated to shut down Darkmarket, one of the largest dark web marketplaces, in 2021, leading to the arrest of 150 alleged drug dealers.

"Operation Specter was a coordinated international law enforcement effort, spanning three continents, to disrupt drug trafficking on the Dark Web and represents the largest seizure of funds and funds ever coordinated by the Department of Justice." US Attorney General Merrick B. This represents the largest number of arrests ever made in an international crackdown on the dark web, Garland said in a statement.