International deep web drug ring broken up
Law enforcement agencies from several American and European countries have dismantled a network of drug sales through the deep web that has led to the arrest of 288 people. and the seizure of 850 kilos of narcotics, 117 firearms and $53.4 million (€48.5 million) in cash and cryptocurrencies.
The operation is the result of years of investigation to prevent the sale and distribution of fentanyl and similar drugs through the network.the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
The operation also involved the European police agency, Europolwhich disrupted a “monopolistic market” in December 2021, opening “hundreds” of criminal investigations. Of the total of 288 arrests, 153 were made in the United States, 55 in the United Kingdom and 52 in Germany.highlighted Europol.
These types of structures of internet drug sales operate in a very flexible way, so that as soon as the one sales website is detected and closed, another one immediately emerges. that replaces it. “It’s like the whack-a-mole game and we’re hitting as hard as we can,” Attorney General Merrick Garland explained at a press conference.
Among those arrested are. a 29-year-old Florida man who was selling drugs out of several doorways. in the dark net and that it was known as ‘Syntropy’. Together with two collaborators, he was involved in shipping drugs such as fentanyl, heroin or methamphetamine to 6,000 customers across the country, the U.S. Department of Justice has indicated.
Last year the Department of Justice already announced the dismantling of the Hydra marketplace by German authorities, which was considered the largest and longest-running dark net marketplace on the net. The portal received more than $5 billion in cryptocurrency payments.
