150 people arrested in US-Europe darknet drug probe

WASHINGTON – Law enforcement officials successful the U.S. and Europe person arrested 150 radical and seized much than $31 cardinal successful an planetary cause trafficking probe stemming from income connected the darknet, the Justice Department said Tuesday.

The arrests are connected to a 10-month probe betwixt national instrumentality enforcement officials successful the U.S. and Europol successful Europe. Prosecutors allege those charges are liable for tens of thousands of amerciable income successful the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Switzerland.

The Justice Department says investigators person seized implicit $31.6 cardinal successful currency and virtual currency and 45 guns.

The darknet is simply a portion of the net hosted wrong an encrypted web and accessible lone done specialized anonymity-providing tools, astir notably the Tor Browser.

Investigators besides recovered a slew of amerciable drugs, including counterfeit medicine and opioid pills, on with much than 152 kilograms of amphetamine, 21 kilograms of cocaine and 32.5 kilograms of MDMA, according to prosecutors.

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Those arrested see 65 radical successful the U.S., 47 successful Germany, 24 radical successful the United Kingdom, 4 successful Italy, 4 successful the Netherlands, 3 successful France, 2 successful Switzerland and 1 idiosyncratic successful Bulgaria.

Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco said investigators recovered darknet vendors were moving fake laboratories successful their homes to make fake pills — designed to look similar medicine symptom pills — that are laced with fentanyl, methamphetamine and different amerciable drugs.

The cognition was specifically designed to people “drug distributors who usage the darknet to postulation these illicit drugs and items similar pill presses, which are fueling the ongoing opioid situation plaguing our communities,” Monaco said.

The Justice Department said its probe was ongoing and investigators were inactive moving to place different individuals down darknet accounts.

While the Justice Department has carried retired similar investigations successful the past, investigators were peculiarly acrophobic erstwhile they started seeing a surge successful opioid income connected the darknet during the pandemic.

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“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, much radical person turned to the darknet than ever earlier to bargain drugs,” Monaco said.

“Before I close, I privation to code those who stay connected the darknet, those who are peddling amerciable drugs and reasoning they are harmless down layers of integer anonymity. My connection to you is simple: There is nary acheronian internet. We tin and we volition radiance a light," Monaco said.

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