International Police Seizes Dark Web Market Recovers Millions of Dollars

Europol announced on Tuesday that a “dark web” marketplace had been shut down as a result of a multi-continental crackdown, which resulted in the arrest of 288 suspects and the recovery of $54.8 million in cash and virtual currency.

The SpecTor operation was a collaboration of law enforcement agencies from the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and Europe. Aside from the arrests and financial recovery, the police seized nearly a tonne of drugs and 117 firearms.

Hague-based Europol said in a statement:

“In an operation coordinated by Europol and involving nine countries, law enforcement have seized the illegal dark web marketplace ‘Monopoly Market’ and arrested 288 suspects involved in buying or selling drugs on the dark web. A number of these suspects were considered high-value targets.”

This action followed a previous successful operation by German police in 2021, which resulted in the seizure of the criminal infrastructure of the Monopoly Market.

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Europol created target packages by cross-matching and analysing collected data based on extensive evidence provided by German authorities. These packages formed the basis for a number of national investigations.

These investigations resulted in the arrest of 288 vendors and buyers who participated in tens of thousands of illegitimate goods sales across Europe, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Brazil.

According to Europol, the United States had the most arrests with 153, followed by the United Kingdom with 55, Germany with 52, and the Netherlands with ten.