It dominated Russian and Eastern European trade in drugs and stolen data. Its admins announced the shutdown as authorities FBI, Europol, others were exposing dozens of its vendors in a sting Operation SaboTor. This set the legal precedent that even Tor hidden markets are prosecutable.
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The EDTF encompasses a standalone Cyber Division as part of an effort to stay abreast of emerging criminal threats and in keeping with current and future investigative priorities. The EDTF is the premier money laundering task force in the nation and comprises more than 200 law enforcement personnel representing approximately 35 federal, state and local law enforcement and regulatory agencies. HSI New York leads and directs all operational and administrative activities of the El Dorado Task Force (EDTF). After transactions were completed using cryptocurrency, buyers could review and rate their purchases on multiple criteria, including “stealth.” Buyers could browse the available goods and services by category, including “Fraud,” “Drugs & Chemicals,” “Counterfeit Items,” and “Software & Malware,” among others.
In that time, it facilitated more than USD 100 million in drug sales, including hundreds of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine, alongside heroin, LSD, MDMA, oxycodone, ketamine, and misbranded prescription drugs. Department of Justice announced the results of Operation RapTor—an unprecedented international crackdown on darknet narcotics trafficking. German authorities brought down the site’s criminal infrastructure in 2021, Europol notes, which served as the “basis for hundreds of national investigations.” Law enforcement also obtained the buyer lists from the site’s illegal vendors, potentially resulting in “thousands” of more arrests across the world. Monopoly Market has been on the dark web since 2019 and has since served as a hub where criminals can buy and sell drugs, according to CyberScoop. Law enforcement agencies from around the globe arrested 288 people suspected of buying or selling drugs on the dark web.
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Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York of narcotics conspiracy, money laundering, and conspiracy to sell adulterated and misbranded medication for owning and operating Incognito Market, one of the largest narcotics marketplaces on the internet. “No matter where criminals hide, we will find them, dismantle their operations, and bring them to justice. “Working through the JCODE initiative, IRS Criminal Investigation and our international partners led the largest and most impactful takedown to date—seizing over $200 million in assets, removing deadly drugs and weapons from circulation, and holding more than 270 individuals accountable. “This historic international seizure of firearms, deadly drugs, and illegal funds will save lives,” said Attorney General Pam Bondi. Boutique dark markets are implementing stricter security measures, including better encryption and multi-layered protections, to safeguard transactions. As major players tear each other apart, new, niche markets are carving out their own territories, often with a sharp focus on specific categories of illicit goods.
Dream Market administrator and prolific vendor Gal Vallerius was arrested in August 2017, after a border search of his laptop confirmed his identity as online drug dealer OxyMonster. At the time, Dream Market was reported to have "57,000 listings for drugs and 4,000 listings for opioids". The market also had accompanying forums, hosted on a different URL, where buyers, vendors, and other members of the community could interact. Illicit drug sales, for example, are promoted on social media, where platform features such as recommendation systems are affording new means of illicit drug supply. The other emerging issue is that current policing efforts treat dark web markets as the core threat, which might miss the wider landscape of digital harms. This ability of dark web communities to thrive in disruptions reflects how dark web market users have become experts at adapting to risks, managing disruptions and rebuilding quickly.
€7.8 million ($9 million) was seized from Archetyp's biggest vendor alone. The BKA also said 20 additional properties were searched, mainly targeting Archtetyp moderators and vendors. The video offered suggestions that multiple arrests were made at all levels of the Archetyp hierarchy, and although Europol's official announcement only confirmed one was made – the 30-year-old German – the BKA said seven people were arrested in Sweden. The Register asked the authorities involved for more details on these measures, and they clarified this meant arrests only. The mission of the EDTF is to disrupt, dismantle, or render ineffective, organizations involved in the laundering of proceeds of narcotics trafficking and other financial crimes. The EDTF is the premier money laundering task force in the nation and is comprised of more than 200 law enforcement personnel representing approximately thirty-five (35) federal, state, and local law enforcement and regulatory agencies.
Archetyp Market 2020 June 2025 Operation Deep Sentinel
Everytown, an organization that works to prevent gun violence in America, calls ghost guns a “weapon of choice for violent criminals” and extremists. In September 2024, the US Secret Service’s Cyber Investigative Section, Netherlands Police, and the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) seized web domains and infrastructure linked to UAPS, PM2BTC, and Cryptex. These actions were part of a coordinated effort among US government agencies and foreign counterparts to combat Russian illicit finance.
- Europol also said the market allowed the sale of fentanyl and “other highly potent synthetic opioids.”Authorities seized the site’s online infrastructure, which was hosted in the Netherlands, and arrested its 30-year-old German administrator in Barcelona, Spain.
- In his career, spanning more than a decade, he’s written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans.
- They often sell across multiple markets or operate standalone storefronts via encrypted apps like Telegram and Signal.
- “Criminals selling fentanyl on the Darknet should pay attention to Operation DisrupTor,” said Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, in a statement.
- Cartel-linked money couriers have funneled at least $5.5 million in stablecoins like USDT to Chinese fentanyl precursor suppliers, according to a March report from Chainalysis, which revealed what the firm dubbed an “on-chain fentanyl economy.”
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In fact, it is routine for individual’s participating in these dark web communities, par for the course of engaging in the markets. What current policing strategies neglect is that dark web markets are not isolated to the storefronts that are the popular target of crackdowns. In some cases, established sellers on closed-down markets are welcomed onto new markets as digital “refugees” and have joining fees waived.
“Under the JCODE umbrella, law enforcement agencies across the globe have joined forces to take down criminals who use the darknet to buy and sell narcotics. “Operation SpecTor was a coordinated international law enforcement effort, spanning three continents, to disrupt drug trafficking on the dark web and represents the most funds seized and the highest number of arrests in any coordinated international action led by the Justice Department against drug traffickers on the dark web,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland. Operation SpecTor builds on the successes of prior years’ operations and takedowns of marketplaces, which result in the seizure of darknet infrastructure providing investigators across the world with investigative leads and evidence. In May, law enforcement arrested another 270 suspects following an international joint action known as 'Operation RapTor' that targeted dark web vendors and their customers from ten countries. "With this takedown, law enforcement has taken out one of the dark web's longest-running drug markets, cutting off a major supply line for some of the world's most dangerous substances," said Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, Europol's Deputy Executive Director of Operations, on Monday.
From at least April 2021 until May 2023, McDonald and others conspired to sell fentanyl and cocaine via multiple darknet marketplaces. In a fourth example, a San Fernando Valley man, Brian McDonald, 23, was sentenced to more than 20 years in federal prison in the Central District of California for using darknet marketplaces to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of fentanyl-laced pills and cocaine to buyers nationwide. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California secured a 17-year sentence for Adan Ruiz, of Orange County, and a 15-year sentence for Omar Navia, of Los Angeles, for supplying fentanyl-laced pills to a drug trafficking ring that sold these drugs to more than 1,000 customers nationwide via the darknet. “The FBI could not do this work without our partners both at home and abroad, and the staggering success of this year's record-breaking amount of fentanyl, guns, and drugs seized prove that our efforts are working. Operation RapTor builds on the successes of prior years’ operations and takedowns of marketplaces, which resulted in the seizure of darknet infrastructure from Nemesis, Tor2Door, Bohemia, and Kingdom Markets, providing investigators across the world with investigative leads and evidence. Operation RapTor was a global, coordinated effort by law enforcement in the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia to disrupt fentanyl and opioid trafficking, as well as the sales of other illicit goods and services, on the darknet, or dark web.
Silk Road, launched in early 2011, was the world’s first major Tor based marketplace. In practice, authorities combine blockchain forensics, metadata analysis and international raids to dismantle these sites. By 2025, agencies also use dark web search Engines and honeypots to infiltrate markets. It’s a big blow to the criminal ecosystem that will take a long time to recover from.” If Telegram maintains its crackdown, he suggests the market operators might migrate to other messaging services with less oversight or even to decentralized platforms where they can’t be effectively banned.
Synthetic opioids, mostly fentanyl, kill more Americans every year than died in the Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan wars combined. Ten defendants have been arrested — and 11 total are in custody — pursuant to a nine-count federal grand jury indictment unsealed today charging a former Olympic snowboarder now on… OCDETF identifies, disrupts, and dismantles the highest-level criminal organizations that threaten the United States using a prosecutor-led, intelligence-driven, multi-agency approach. This case also is part of an Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces (OCDETF) operation. JoyInc is believed to have been operating since at least 2018 and is one of the most prolific methamphetamine and cocaine distributors to ever operate on the darknet.
Europe-Wide Takedown Hits Longest-Standing Dark Web Drug Market, Europol Says
A massive international law enforcement operation has seen one of the longest-standing dark web marketplaces finally taken offline. The marketplace sold a variety of content, including drugs, stolen data, and counterfeit consumer goods, all using cryptocurrency. It had more than 600,000 users worldwide and 17,000 listings consisting mainly of illicit drugs including MDMA, cocaine and methamphetamine.
Security Issues
Modern darknet investigations rely on a mix of technology and teamwork. Some in the underground forums were fooled by fake posts from a released admin, a likely law enforcement ruse to sow confusion. With Archetyp offline announced by Europol on June 23, 2025, Europe lost one of its major fentanyl pipelines just as overdose deaths were surging. According to Europol, the operation froze about €7.8 million in assets.
This critical strike against dark web networks fueling the fentanyl crisis marks a proud moment in our ongoing effort to protect communities worldwide.” “This unprecedented operation is a testament to the power of global partnership and the unwavering dedication of our team,” said Chief Guy Ficco of IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI). “Operation RapTor shows that the dark web is not beyond the reach of law enforcement,” said Head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, Edvardas Šileris. “These predators who peddled poison on the dark web might have thought they are untouchable — hiding behind screens, pushing fentanyl, fueling overdoses, and cashing in on misery. “By cowardly hiding online, these traffickers have wreaked havoc across our country and directly fueled the fentanyl crisis and gun violence impacting our American communities and neighborhoods. Parsarad was also indicted by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Ohio on drug trafficking charges related to the illegal business he ran on the dark web.
Administrator Arrested
Historically, the darknet drug trade has been dominated by large, multi-purpose platforms like AlphaBay and DrugHub. They hailed Operation RapTor as a major leap forward in tackling sophisticated criminal outfits that try to hide their fentanyl and opioid sales under the veil of dark web anonymity. Adding another layer of pressure, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) also slapped sanctions on Iranian national Behrouz Parsarad, identified as the operator of the Nemesis marketplace. On the international front, Europol and national police forces across ten countries were vital to the effort.
Police Seizes Archetyp Market Drug Marketplace, Arrests Admin
Since the takedown of Nemesis, Parsarad has discussed setting up a new darknet marketplace to take the place of Nemesis with vendors that were once active on the marketplace. Nemesis was established in 2021 and operated as a criminal marketplace on the darknet, an encrypted network within the Internet that can only be accessed with special anonymity-enhancing browsers. “Treasury, in partnership with U.S. law enforcement, will use all available tools to dismantle these darknet marketplaces and hold accountable the individuals who oversee them.” For instance, Hansa’s police run honeypot netted thousands of user identities, and dream markets collapse still provokes sting operations. Dark web marketplaces are hidden online bazaars on Tor or similar networks where anonymous vendors sell illicit goods.
