International police have arrested nearly 300 individuals on suspicion of selling drugs on the underground marketplace Monopoly Market.
Operation SpecTor also led to the seizure of €51 million ($53 million) in cash and cryptocurrency, 850 kg of drugs and 117 firearms. According to Europol, the drugs included 258kg of amphetamine, 43kg of cocaine, 43kg of MDMA, more than 10kg of LSD and ecstasy pills.
The operation involved police from Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Brazil, the United Kingdom, the United States and Switzerland. The majority of arrests appeared to have occurred in the US (153), UK (55) and Germany (52), with several suspects identified as high-value targets.
Read more about dark web marketplaces: Dark web market revenues will drop by 50% in 2022.
After the secret police closed the market in 2021, investigators were able to obtain the buyers list of the Monopoly Market vendors.
“Europol has compiled an information package based on the pile of evidence provided by German authorities who successfully seized the market’s criminal infrastructure in December 2021,” the police agency explained.
“Created by cross-matching and analyzing collected data and evidence, these targeted packages served as the basis for hundreds of national surveys.”
The success of Operation SpecTor follows the successful takedown of Hydra in April 2022. This market is believed to have the highest turnover ever, with revenues of around €1.2 billion ($1.4 billion).
Other similar international operations included DisrupTor in 2020, which led to 179 arrests, and Dark Hunter a year later resulted in 150 arrests of suspects.
“Coalitions of law enforcement agencies on three continents are proof that working together yields better results,” claims Catherine De Bolle, Executive Director of Europol.
“This operation sends a powerful message to criminals on the dark web. International law enforcement agencies have the means to identify and hold you accountable for your illegal activities, even on the dark web. and ability.”
