

“Because of those drugs, that promising young man sadly died of an overdose last year.”įor the first time, FBI agents from all the bureau's field offices also visited buyers to tell them about the overdose danger of pills sold online, which are often disguised to look like prescription drugs. “But some of the packages his family thought were full of computer parts actually contain drugs he had purchased off the dark net," he said. Investigators also got leads from local police investigating overdose deaths, including a 19-year-old man in Colorado who loved learning languages and building his own computers, said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate. One defendant in California led an organization that bought fentanyl in bulk, pressed it into pills with methamphetamine and sold millions of pills to thousands of people on the dark web, he said. The number of arrests and money seized was the highest for any international Justice Department-led drug trafficking operation, he said.

“Our message to criminals on the dark web is this: You can try to hide in the furthest reaches of the internet, but the Justice Department will find you and hold you accountable for your crimes,” said U.S.

Synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl, kill more Americans every year than died in the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. Most of the arrests were made in the U.S., which is in the grips of an overdose crisis. The operation targeting the “Monopoly Market" is the latest major takedown of sales platforms for drugs and other illicit goods on the so-called dark web, a part of the internet hosted within an encrypted network and accessible only through specialized anonymity-providing tools. and Europe arrested nearly 300 people, confiscated over $53 million, and seized a dark web marketplace as part of an international crackdown on drug trafficking that officials say was the largest operation of its kind. THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) - Authorities in the U.S. The operation, coordinated by Europol and targeting the “Monopoly Market,” is the latest major takedown of sales platforms for drugs and other illicit goods on the dark web. LEuropean Union law enforcement agency Europol says police around the world have seized an online marketplace and arrested nearly 300 people allegedly involved in buying and selling drugs on the dark web. 10, 2018, file photo shows the sun bouncing off the Europol headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands.
