Nearly 300 arrested in US and Europe as authorities crack down on dark web drugs marketplace

Authorities in the United States and Europe arrested nearly 300 people, confiscated over US$53 million, and seized a dark web marketplace as part of an international crack down on drug trafficking that officials say was the largest operation of its kind.

The worldwide 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 specialised anonymity-providing tools.

The largest number of arrests were made in the US, which is in the grips of an overdose crisis. Synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl, kill more Americans every year than died in the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined.

“Our message to criminals on the dark web is this: you can try to hide in the furthest reaches of the internet, but the Justice Department will find you and hold you accountable for your crimes,” said US Attorney General Merrick Garland. The number of arrests and money seized was the highest for any international Justice Department-led drug trafficking operation, he said.

One defendant in California led an organisation 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.