Operation SaboTor – Police arrested 61 vendors and buyers in the dark web

Operation SaboTor – A coordinated operation conducted by law enforcement agencies from Europe, Canada, and the United States targeted vendors and buyers of illegal goods on dark web marketplaces.

The international operations, dubbed operation SaboTor, involved 17 countries, notably Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Portugal.

“During the course of this operation, international law enforcement agencies made 61 arrests and shut down 50 dark web accounts used for illegal activity.” reads the press release published by the Europol. “Law enforcement executed 65 search warrants, seizing 299,5 kg of drugs, 51 firearms, and over €6,2 million (almost €4 million in cryptocurrency, €2,2 million in cash, and €35 000 in gold). They also conducted 122 interviews.”

The operation resulted in the arrest of 61 people who are accused of trade of illegal goods and shut down for 50 dark web accounts involved in illegal activities. The police also seized nearly 300 kilos of drugs, 51 firearms, and over €6.2 million (Two-thirds were in virtual currency, the rest in cold hard cash). The police also conducted 122 interviews.

“Today, members of the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (J-CODE) team announce the results of Operation SaboTor, a coordinated international effort targeting drug trafficking organizations operating on the Darknet. This is J-CODE’s second coordinated action and follows the success of last year’s Operation Disarray.” reads the press release published by the FBI.

“As a result of Operation SaboTor, U.S. and international law enforcement agencies made 61 arrests and shut down 50 Darknet accounts used for illegal activity. Law enforcement executed 65 search warrants, seizing 299.5 kilograms of drugs, 51 firearms, and more than $7 million ($4.5 million in cryptocurrency, $2.48 million in cash, and $40,000 in gold).”

Operation SaboTor was conducted between January 11 and March 12, 2019, the preparation phase began in July 2018. The operation was composed of a series of separate but complementary joint operations aimed at fighting the opioid epidemic

Investigators used using information gathered in the first stage of the operations to identify 247 high-value targets and developed intelligence packages that were disseminated to the concerned countries for further handling.

Europol hopes this operation could discourage anyone who wants to conduct illegal activities believing that the dark web represents an inaccessible place for the police.

While the law enforcement shares the results of this operation, the admin of the top dark web marketplace Dream Market announced plans to shut down on April 30 after six years of activity,

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Pierluigi Paganini

(SecurityAffairs – Dark Web, black marketplace)

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Pierluigi Paganini

Pierluigi Paganini is member of the ENISA (European Union Agency for Network and Information Security) Threat Landscape Stakeholder Group and Cyber G7 Group, he is also a Security Evangelist, Security Analyst and Freelance Writer. Editor-in-Chief at "Cyber Defense Magazine", Pierluigi is a cyber security expert with over 20 years experience in the field, he is Certified Ethical Hacker at EC Council in London. The passion for writing and a strong belief that security is founded on sharing and awareness led Pierluigi to find the security blog "Security Affairs" recently named a Top National Security Resource for US. Pierluigi is a member of the "The Hacker News" team and he is a writer for some major publications in the field such as Cyber War Zone, ICTTF, Infosec Island, Infosec Institute, The Hacker News Magazine and for many other Security magazines. Author of the Books "The Deep Dark Web" and “Digital Virtual Currency and Bitcoin”.