Authorities Bust Up Online Drug Marketplace and Arrest 300 After an 18-Month Operation

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International authorities shut down an online marketplace and arrested nearly 300 people who allegedly used it and other parts of the dark web to buy and sell fentanyl and other dangerous opioids.

The operation lasted over 18 months and spanned three continents, US officials. Law-enforcement agencies also seized over $53 million in cash, virtual currencies, guns, and nearly 2,000 pounds of drugs.

Attorney General Merrick Garland acknowledged that criminals can often reconstitute quickly but said that the expanding law-enforcement pressure was making it harder for replacement marketplaces to spin up.

The Justice Department’s operation was coordinated with other agencies, including Europol, which said European law-enforcement authorities seized “Monopoly Market,” a marketplace operating on the dark web, a network of websites that uses anonymity software to hide users’ locations.

Darknet seizures are part of a broader Biden administration strategy to curtail crypto-fueled crime, including sa…