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Authorities arrest 150 suspects who sold illegal goods on the dark web

Law enforcement agencies from nine countries have arrested 150 suspects who sold illegal goods on the dark web, Europol and the US Department of Justice announced today.

Part of a joint operation named Dark HunTOR, suspects were detained in the United States (65), Germany (47), the United Kingdom (24), Italy (4), the Netherlands (4), France (3), Switzerland (2) and Bulgaria (1). A number of investigations are still ongoing to identify additional individuals behind dark web accounts.

Officials said the arrests stemmed from a follow-up investigation following the takedown of DarkMarket, the world’s largest dark web marketplace for illegal products, which took place earlier this year in January.

“At the time, German authorities arrested the marketplace’s alleged operator and seized the criminal infrastructure, providing investigators across the world with a trove of evidence,” Europol officials said today.

The data from the seized servers was shared with other law enforcement agencies as part of Operation Dark HunTOR, which DOJ Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco described in a press conference today as “the world largest law enforcement operation.”

Monaco also said that most of the suspects arrested today were drug traffickers who sold or bought opioids and fake pills from DarkMarket.

Following the arrests, authorities said they also seized more than €26.7 million ($31 million) in cash and virtual currencies, 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, officials said.