Operation Darkhuntor, conducted by the forces of the order of nine countries, including France, under the aegis of Europol and Eurojust, gave rise to the arrest of 150 suspects on Tuesday.
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Some 26.7 million euros, dozens of kilos of various drugs and 45 firearms seized; 150 arrests of suspects of drug trafficking, weapons, false papers, stolen bank cards or pirate software: Operation Darkhuntor, led by the forces of the order of nine countries, of which France, will no doubt remain as one of the largest police operations at the global level.
Europol and Eurojust, the European police agencies and the US Department of Justice have delivered, Tuesday, October 26, some details on this action that targeted the Dark Web, the illegal version of the Internet supposed to guarantee the Anonymity to its users. A series of “separate but complementary” interventions took place in Germany, Australia, Bulgaria, the United States, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. In France too, where two men and a woman suspected of managing a site entitled Le Monde Parallel had already been apprehended in June. This site included 1,800 members, buyers and vendors of drugs and stolen goods.
Lisa Monaco, US Deputy Secretary to Justice, indicated at a press conference in Washington that 200,000 stackers had been seized in the United States, 90% containing opioid counterfeits and other narcotics particularly dangerous. The sale of opioids on the web has grown sharply during the pandemic, according to M me monaco. Laboratories installed in apartments and manufacturing pupils resembling anti-powder drugs have been uncovered. Many contained methamphetamines and fentanyl, a very powerful analgesic, of which a few grains can kill.
“There is no internet dark, we will enlighten it”
The investigations lasted several months. They started in January with the arrest, on the border between Germany and Denmark, a 34-year-old Australian. The latter delivered to the police a lot of information on the Darkmarket platform, of which it was apparently the operator. This would be the most important “cyber black market” of the planet, a virtual point of sale where narcotics could be obtained, computer viruses, telephone cards guaranteeing anonymity, etc.
The episode was related to the revelation by the German police in September 2019 of the existence of Cyberbunker, an illegal service host of the Dark Web. Located in the west of the Federal Republic, in an abandoned NATO site, this platform accommodated drug sales sites and servers for pedopornographic image traffic or the launch of computer attacks.
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