Attorney General Merrick Garland speaks at a news conference at the Department of Justice in Washington on Friday, April 14, 2023, about the serious international anti-drug trafficking measures.
Susan Walsh | AP
Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a press conference on Tuesday that a consortium of U.S. and international law enforcement agencies had arrested 288 people and seized more than $53 million in cash and cryptocurrency.
“The Department of Justice is cracking down on criminal cryptocurrency transactions and the online criminal marketplaces that enable them,” Garland said.
Dozens of firearms and over 850 kilograms of drugs were also seized during Operation SpecTor, which alluded to dark web browsing protocols. According to one person, the operation was carried out in collaboration with Europol to seize a dark web marketplace called Monopoly Market. press release From European distributors.
Surgery will begin in October 2021, Garland said.
Department of Justice Said There have been more than 100 federal investigations and indictments in the United States, and 153 domestic suspects have been arrested, according to Garland, including a Californian accused of selling $2 million worth of fentanyl and methamphetamine on the dark web. State men were included.
German police first seized marketplace online infrastructure in December 2021, working with Europol and international law enforcement to target ‘high-value targets’ selling drugs and illegal goods worldwide I made it
SpecTor is a continuation of the same effort that destroyed the darknet marketplace Hydra in 2022 and the online identity theft site Genesis Market in 2023.
“Our message to criminals on the dark web is: You can try to hide in the farthest corners of the internet, but the Department of Justice will find you and help you find your crime,” Garland said in a statement. I will take responsibility,” he said.
Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms, and the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Team were involved. Law enforcement agencies from Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Switzerland and the UK were also involved.