(Bloomberg) -- International law enforcement officials arrested 288 people and seized 850 kilograms of drugs as part of an investigation into an online market for narcotics.
Police in the US, Europe and South America also seized 117 firearms and $53.4 million in cash and virtual currencies as part of a years-long effort to curb the spread of fentanyl and fentanyl-laced narcotics, the US Department of Justice said in a statement Tuesday.
As part of the operation, Europol said it seized “Monopoly Market” in December 2021, and that evidence gained from its takedown was used in hundreds of criminal investigations. Of the 288 arrests, 153 took place in the US, 55 in the UK and 52 in Germany, Europol said.
Online drug marketplaces have proven to be a persistent issue for law enforcement agencies globally. When sites are disrupted, a new marketplace typically appears soon after.
“There is a bit of a whack-a-mole problem here, and we are whacking as hard as we can,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news conference.
Among those arrested was a 29-year-old Florida man who allegedly sold drugs on multiple dark net marketplaces who was known online as “Syntropy.” Together with two co-conspirators, the suspect mailed drugs, including fentanyl, heroin, and methamphetamine, sold on the dark net around the country, according to the Justice Department. The defendant had a list of more than 6,000 customers across the US, authorities said.
Last year, the Justice Department announced the takedown of Hydra market by German authorities, which it said was the largest and longest running dark net market at the time. The site received more than $5 billion in cryptocurrency, the DOJ said.
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