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A MULTI-CONTINENTAL crackdown has halted a major “dark web” drugs marketplace, with international police arresting 288 suspects and recovering more than €50 million in cash and virtual currency, Europol has said.
The operation called SpecTor by US, British, Brazilian and European law enforcement also netted almost a tonne of drugs and 117 firearms, Europe’s policing agency said.
“In an operation coordinated by Europol and involving nine countries, law enforcement have seized the illegal dark web marketplace ‘Monopoly Market’ and arrested 288 suspects involved in buying or selling drugs on the dark web,” the Hague-based Europol said in a statement.
“A number of these suspects were considered high-value targets,” it said.
The sting followed a successful 2021 operation by German police which saw it seize the Monopoly Market’s criminal infrastructure.
“Europol has been compiling intelligence packages based on troves of evidence provided by the German authorities,” Europol said.
“These target packages, created by cross-matching and analysing the collected data and evidence served as the basis for hundreds of national investigations,” it said.
“As a result, 288 vendors and buyers who engaged in tens-of-thousands of sales of illicit goods were arrested across Europe, Britain, the United States and Brazil,” Europol said.
The largest number of arrests were in the United States with 153, Britain 55, Germany 52 and the Netherlands, 10. One suspect was also arrested in Brazil.
The US Justice Department said several suspects have already been convicted or were being prosecuted following Operation SpecTor – which it described as the “largest international operation against darknet trafficking of fentanyl and opioids”.
This included a Florida man who was sentenced to 16 years in December on drug possession and distribution charges, the DOJ said in a statement.
Police also recovered €50.8 million in cash and virtual currency and seized 850 kilos of drugs, mainly amphetamines and opioids, Europol and the DOJ added.
“Our coalition of law enforcement authorities across three continents proves that we all do better when we work together,” Europol’s director Catherine De Bolle said.
“This operation sends a strong message to criminals on the dark web: international law enforcement has the means and the ability to identify and hold you accountable for your illegal activities,” she said.
Dutch cybercrime police team leader Nan van de Coevering said the intelligence helped police to start new investigations “as well as enriching current probes”.
“We published a list on the dark net containing all the nicknames of the arrested sellers,” Van de Coevering added.
“Buyers know they cannot trust the sellers on the list,” she said.
Operation SpecTor comes in the wake of last month’s takedown of the world’s largest online marketplace selling stolen identities and passwords on the open web.
Led by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Dutch police the operation called “Cookie Monster” saw 119 suspects arrested and involved 17 countries across the world.
A cookie is a piece of computer data that makes it easier to reopen web pages. Cookie Monster is a blue, furry character from the US children’s television series “Sesame Street”.
In April last year German and US law officials closed down the “Hydra” marketplace, estimated to be worth €1.23 billion.
Previous operations targeting marketplaces on the dark web included “DisrupTor” in 2020 and “Dark HunTor” in 2021 leading to more than 320 arrests.
US Attorney General Merrick Garland however admitted that these operations “disrupt the situation for some time”.
“But people can reconstitute, there are other people,” he told a Washington press conference.
“There is a bit of a whack-a-mole problem here and we are whacking as hard as we can,” Garland said.
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Poor children, how can someone take advantage of them. So young and innocent. Why is the perpetrator of the abuse not being punished. No mention of that.
“Tusla brought an emergency change of foster placement to the attention of the District Court” – wtf?
Social workers should have absolute power to remove a child from care if they suspect any form of abuse.
I prefer if they got it wrong each time than to leave a single child in danger just once!
@Jim Buckley Barrett: Are you also in favour of separating children from their parents at the US/Mexico border until their identifies are confirmed and the authorities are sure the children aren’t bring trafficked? Genuine question.
@Toomasu Sumitsu: I would be in favour of parents not bringing their children to the US/Mexico border and exposing them to such a volatile situation. However, if authorities have to separate children from parents in order to determine the genuine reasons for travel, then it should be done in accordance with policy.
I recently heard a speaker who is a specialist on trafficking in the EU and was horrified to discover that many young and underage individuals are being brought to Ireland and the UK specifically as sex workers or in forced labor situations. Lack of money, English skills and proper documentation makes them particularly vulnerable.
@Rathminder: Don’t you know being against open borders makes you racist though. Asking for documentation is a racist attack.
@Toomasu Sumitsu:
I don’t think Rathminder was asking for documentation but rather pointing out the *lack* of it makes them vulnerable, which is true, apparent statelessness has a negative impact on just about everything, even healthcare. Unaccompanied minors should automatically be given temporary documentation
@Rathminder: remember that there are men in ireland buying these children. And not one sex buyer of under or over 18 year olds has been convicted. Less than 5 have been arrested over the last year.
I saw this because Ruhama have already jumped on the bandwagon of trying to re-exploit these poor kids for their own, totally unrelated, agenda.
Can we not stop finding such self serving wastes of space and allocate the same money to actually helping people, especially disadvantaged kids, instead?
The only thing I can think of to say about Tusla that is fit for polite company is:
“I TOLD YOU SO”.
Tusla are quite happy to leave children to be abused and neglected when it suits their mates. A certain ex Labour minister for housing would know a lot about this
@Colm Lyons:
That is absolutely true…Tusla are nothing but a highly politicised sick joke that uses the lives of vulnerable children as counters in a long running game of power and ambition.
Vulnerable children in Ireland have absolutely nowhere kind, compassionate, caring and dedicated to their best interests to turn in desperation.
Ireland is not a safe place for these, and many other children. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee their safety. We should be able to do better. Even one child trafficked in this manner is a travesty, if there was ever something worth fighting for surely it’s the prevention of sexual exploitation of small children.
It has to be one of the cruellest ironies that these wee children land on this sad rock and the agencies tasked with helping them use them for self-serving political gain, they produce lovely reports, presentations and tears. The abused are abused again by those tasked with saving them, the only ones who benefit are those making money from them, illegally, from donations or government grants.
It’s time we stopped playing politics and either do our damndest to help these children or don’t, but stop the pretense. Without them, all the other agencies wouldn’t have a reason to exist…
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