US and European police on Thursday announced the shutdown of two huge "dark web"
AlphaBay and Hansa – two of the largest “dark web” marketplaces for illegal and illicit items such as drugs and guns – have been shut down, the US Justice Department said on Thursday.
AlphaBay had more than 350,000 listings for illicit items of various kinds - Silk Road only had 14,000 when it was seized in 2013.
Police in the US and Europe, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Dutch National Police, partnered to shutter the sites accused of allowing thousands of vendors to sell illegal drugs, of which Europol said there were 250,000 listings on AlphaBay alone, with 200,000 members and 40,000 vendors.
The sites operated on the Tor network, which helps users browse the internet anonymously. Visitors to the online marketplaces paid through digital currencies such as Bitcoin.
AlphaBay mysteriously went offline earlier this month fuelling suspicions among users that law enforcement action had taken place. It was widely considered the biggest online black market for drugs, estimated to host daily transactions totalling hundreds of thousands of pounds after filling the gap left by the takedown of Silk Road in 2013 by the FBI. FBI acting director Andrew McCabe said AlphaBay was 10 times as large as the Silk Road.
The site allowed users to sell and buy opioids, including fentanyl and heroin. US attorney general Jeff Sessions said at a briefing in Washington DC: “We know of several Americans who were killed by drugs on AlphaBay. One victim was just 18 years old when in February she overdosed on a powerful synthetic opioid which she had bought on AlphaBay.”
AlphaBay’s servers were seized with the help of authorities in Thailand, Lithuania, Canada, Britain and France. The operation included the arrest of suspected AlphaBay founder.
An alleged administrator of AlphaBay, 26-year-old Canadian Alexandre Cazes, was arrested in Thailand on 5 July following a joint operation between US, Canadian and Thai authorities.
Police also seized millions of dollars in assets, three properties and four Lamborghini cars.
Cazes, apparently took his life a week later while in Thai custody, the justice department said. He faced charges relating to narcotics distribution, identity theft, money laundering and related crimes.
“This is likely one of the most important criminal investigations of the year taking down the largest dark net marketplace in history,” said Sessions. “The dark net is not a place to hide. We will find you.”
While the sites' closure is a massive boost, the DoJ and Europol both readily acknowledge that new services will simply pop up to replace them. After all, the closure of previous dark web marketplace Silk Road in 2013 was eventually followed with AlphaBay - bigger, more lucrative and, by the looks of it, more dangerous.