Another blow to the drug trade on the Darknet: many buyers are struggling

Anyone who has bought drugs on the Darknet should be prepared for unpleasant news from the prosecutor’s office: detectives have managed to arrest numerous dealers who were active in various illegal marketplaces.

The European police agency Europol announced on Tuesday that 288 sellers and buyers involved in tens of thousands of illegal goods sales across Europe, the United States and Brazil have been arrested in a coordinated action. Some of these suspects would be classified as “high-level targets”.

At the Operation Spector The announcement involved researchers from nine countries on three continents, including Switzerland, Germany, Austria and France.

Intensive investigations are also being conducted in the US under the auspices of the Ministry of Justice: in addition to the FBI, Europol lists all major law enforcement agencies in the country.

money, drugs, guns

More than 50 million euros in cash and cryptocurrencies were seized, as well as 850 kilos of drugs and 117 firearms. Among the drugs seized were more than 258 kg of amphetamines, 43 kg of cocaine, 43 kg of MDMA and more than 10 kg of LSD and ecstasy tablets.

It is the second major blow against criminals active on the Darknet in a month. In early April, researchers shut down the dark web platform “Genesis Market” as part of “Operation Cookie Monster”. At the time, Europol wrote about an unprecedented action involving prosecutors from 17 countries, including the Swiss Federal Police (Fedpol) and the Zurich Cantonal Police.

In March, detectives from the Zurich Cantonal Police participated in the dismantling of the online money laundering service “ChipMixer”, coordinated by Europol.

What do we know about the Monopoly market and the actions of the police?

The Zurich public prosecutor’s office has not yet responded to a media request from Watson. For now, we only know that there have been two arrests in this country.

Only drugs were sold through the Monopoly Market, which launched in November 2019. Dealers were only allowed to offer their wares by personal invitation. Only the cryptocurrency Monero (XMR), which is considered relatively safe and anonymous, was accepted for payment.

The “criminal infrastructure of the marketplace” was seized by German police in December 2021, according to Europol’s statement.

The data secured on the seized servers then served as the basis for hundreds of national investigations.

The dealers arrested as part of the operation against Monopoly Market were also active in other illegal marketplaces. With their arrest, it was possible to further curb the Darknet drug trade.

In terms of arrests, the latest operation was even more successful than previous police operations codenamed DisrupTor (2020) with 179 and Dark HunTor (2021) with 150 arrests.

Sources