Law enforcement agencies from nine countries arrested 150 suspects selling drugs on the dark web, he said today Europol and the Ministry of Justice of USA.
He was part of a joint operation called Dark HunTOR, and the suspects were arrested in the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
Officials said the arrests came from an investigation following its closure dark market, the world's largest dark web marketplace for illegals productthe, which took place on January 21.
"At that time, the German authorities arrested the alleged operator of the market and seized the infrastructure, providing researchers from around the world a collection of evidence," Europol officials said today.
The data shared with other law enforcement agencies as part of Operation Dark HuntOR, which DOJ Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco described at a news conference today as "the largest law enforcement operation in the world."
Monaco also said most of the suspects arrested today were drug dealers selling or buying opioids from DarkMarket.
Following the arrests, authorities reported seizing more than 26,7 million euros in cash and virtual currency, 234 kilograms of drugs and 45 firearms. The drugs seized include 152kg of amphetamine, 27kg of opioids and over 25.000 pills of ecstasy.
In addition, Italian authorities used the data from the DarkMarket shutdown to identify and shut them down deep sea και Berlusconi Market, two similar purchases aimed at Italian users.
Both markets had over 100.000 listings for illegal products. Italian officials say they have arrested four administrators and seized 3,6m euros in cryptocurrencies.
