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.
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. For 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.
It seized 50.8 million euros in cash and virtual currencies, 850 kilograms of drugs, and 117 firearms were seized in a series of raids in several countries. "The intelligence that Europol shared with us, such as transaction data and virtual currency addresses, helped us to start new investigations and to enrich existing investigations. In this way we have identified and apprehended a number of important Dutch sellers," said the Dutch team's leader, Nan van de Coevering. "The success of this operation again shows that international cooperation is essential in combating crime on the dark web.