‘Monopoly Market’ taken offline as worldwide raids goal darkish net medication merchants

Fifty-five folks have been arrested within the UK as a part of a world crackdown on unlawful medication and items buying and selling on the darkish net.

Almost 300 suspects have been detained in complete, throughout international locations together with the US (153), Germany (52), the Netherlands (10), Austria (9), France (5), Switzerland (two), Poland and Brazil (one every).

They are all suspected of utilizing a bootleg market generally known as Monopoly Market, the place substances together with amphetamines and cocaine had been purchased and bought.

During raids coordinated by EU regulation enforcement company Europol, and carried out by authorities together with the National Crime Agency and National Police Chiefs’ Council within the UK, greater than £43m in money and cryptocurrencies was seized.

Officers additionally discovered 850kg of medication, together with 43kg of MDMA and 10kg of LSD and ecstasy tablets, and 117 firearms.

Europol stated the operation, dubbed SpecTor, was its most profitable concentrating on darkish net drug trafficking to this point, beating the 179 arrests made because of the DisrupTor mission in 2020.

Many of these detained had been thought of “high-value targets”.

The company stated it confirmed worldwide cooperation was key to tackling on-line crime, with the intelligence used to research the suspects primarily based on proof supplied by German authorities.

Executive director Catherine De Bolle stated: “This operation sends a strong message to criminals on the dark web: international law enforcement has the means and the ability to identify and hold you accountable for your illegal activities, even on the dark web.”

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Investigations proceed to determine further suspects behind accounts on Monopoly Market, Europol revealed.

And as regulation enforcement gained entry to the distributors’ intensive purchaser lists throughout the operation, hundreds of shoppers world wide are additionally liable to prosecution.