A large-scale multinational operation Dark HunTOR has led to arrests of 150 suspects exchanging illegal goods on the dark web. Europol and Eurojust coordinated this operation. Meanwhile, police forces from nine countries, namely, Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the UK and the US, took part in the operation. The authorities have made a combined seizure of €26.7 million ($31m) in cash and virtual currencies, 45 firearms, and 234 kg of drugs, including amphetamine, opioids and ecstasy.
In January 2021, authorities from several countries had collaboratively taken down DarkMarket, a huge illegal marketplace on the dark web. Authorities had seized the criminal infrastructure behind DarkMarket, which led to massive evidence for authorities all over the world. Operation Dark HunTOR arose as a result of the data uncovered after the DarkMarket bust. The operation ultimately led to the arrests of 150 vendors and buyers exchanging tens of thousands of illicit goods.
Most of the arrests were made in the US (65), followed by Germany (47), the UK (24), Italy (4), the Netherlands (4), France (3), Switzerland (2) and Bulgaria (1). Notably, Italian authorities dismantled two other dark web marketplaces called DeepSea and Berlusconi during this operation. They arrested 4 administrators and seized cryptocurrencies worth €3.6 million ($4.16m).
Source: Europol