It added that the platform's infrastructure in the Netherlands was taken offline and that a 30-year-old German who was the administrator had been arrested in Barcelona. BKA has not mentioned if the server administrators or any of the platform's core operators were identified or arrested during the action. Visiting the URL also triggers a retro video game animation, which is used to celebrate the operation's success, as shown below. The Nemesis Market website displays the seizure banner below, informing visitors that the platform is now in the police's hands.
Thousands of vendors advertised goods and services on Empire Market, including controlled substances, compromised and stolen account credentials, stolen and counterfeit credit card information, and counterfeit currency. On the page for each listing, users could pick a predefined quantity of the drug chosen by the vendor, typically measured in grams or number of pills, and proceed to checkout. Archetyp was seized by the BKA in June 2025 in an operation called Operation Deep Sentinel. During the investigation, federal law enforcement seized cryptocurrency valued at $75 million at the time of the seizures, as well as cash and precious metals. “The FDA has undertaken strategic and impactful actions to prevent drug overdoses and reduce deaths and is committed to using all of our cyber-resources to shed light on the darkest corners of illicit medical supply chains for the health and safety of all Americans.”
US Treasury Sanctions Iranian National For Operating Darknet Market Nemesis
In December 2023, the BKA and ZIT seized another major darknet marketplace, the 'Kingdom Market,' and arrested one of the administrators in the United States. The Nemesis Market was launched in 2021 as a new marketplace to purchase illegal drugs and narcotics, stolen data and credit cards, and various cybercrime services related to ransomware, phishing, and distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. That’s the day that German police seized Wall Street Market, the popular underground bazaar that gave international authorities everything they needed to upend the dark web drug trade. At the same time, financial enforcers like OFAC sanctioned individuals running darknet markets—including Iranian national Behrouz Parsarad of Nemesis—demonstrating how financial tools are being brought into alignment with traditional law enforcement. One of the most high-profile targets of Operation RapTor—the largest coordinated global crackdown on darknet drug trafficking to date—was Incognito Market, a dark web narcotics marketplace that operated with remarkable scale, anonymity, and apparent impunity. International authorities collaborated to shut down one of the largest dark web marketplaces, DarkMarket, in 2021, which led to the arrest of 150 alleged drug vendors.
Operation Deep Sentinel
For example, the FBI has noted that criminals on Tor routinely reuse usernames or expose device details, allowing investigators to trace them.
Data Sovereignty: Don't Just Tick The Box, Think Outside It
Many of these big markets are now engaged in cyber warfare, with vendors and operators attacking each other to assert dominance, often leading to disruptions and shutdowns. Over in Virginia, three darknet vendors got their due for pushing more than 13,000 drug shipments all over the U.S. Lin was the operator of Incognito Market, a major darknet hub that, between 2020 and 2024, handled over $100 million in illicit drug sales.
Investigations
Earlier in May, Europol announced the arrest of 288 individuals connected to drug trafficking on Monopoly Market. Desnica allegedly used at least two cryptocurrency exchange services to launder his illicit proceeds. Payments on the platform were made exclusively with Monero, a privacy-enhanced cryptocurrency the architecture of which makes tracing blockchain transactions much more of a pain for authorities. €7.8 million ($9 million) was seized from Archetyp's biggest vendor alone. The BKA also said 20 additional properties were searched, mainly targeting Archtetyp moderators and vendors.
Continued Law Enforcement Efforts Key To Illicit
The alleged administrators of the infamous Bohemia and Cannabia dark web marketplaces have been arrested after apparently shuttering the sites and trying to flee with their earnings. While DNM and fraud shop revenues declined in 2024 following years of concerted international law enforcement efforts, these platforms have managed to sustain their operations by adopting new tactics. In 2024, however, many vendors of reagents and precursors have turned to criminal forums to advertise their product offerings, or have delisted (at least publicly) chemicals related to fentanyl synthesis.
Police Seize Millions In Crypto, Cash And Drugs In Darknet Bust
🚨BREAKING🚨Nemesis Market, a top 5 darknet market, has been seized. The spaceship blows up the marketplace logo and then vanishes from the screen, leaving behind a QR code that links to the website for the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA), or German federal police. No matter where criminals hide, we will find them, dismantle their operations, and bring them to justice. In addition, the United States and international law enforcement partners made 270 arrests of dark web vendors, buyers, and administrators in Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom, and the United States. Abacus launched in September 2021 as ‘Alphabet Market,’ and gradually increased its popularity, especially as the number of other markets on the dark web dwindled, mostly as a result of law enforcement actions.
Operation SpecTor builds on the successes of prior years’ operations and takedowns of marketplaces, which result in the seizure of darknet infrastructure providing investigators across the world with investigative leads and evidence. In May, law enforcement arrested another 270 suspects following an international joint action known as 'Operation RapTor' that targeted dark web vendors and their customers from ten countries. "With this takedown, law enforcement has taken out one of the dark web's longest-running drug markets, cutting off a major supply line for some of the world's most dangerous substances," said Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, Europol's Deputy Executive Director of Operations, on Monday. One Archetyp Market moderator and six of the marketplace's highest vendors were also arrested in Germany and Sweden. German police have shut down what they claim to be the country’s largest illegal dark web marketplace and arrested a suspected administrator of the site. The agency, based in The Hague, built intelligence based on evidence from Germany, which it said seized the marketplace’s “criminal infrastructure” in December 2021.
The police estimated that nearly 20% of these sellers are based in Germany. More than 150,000 users and over 1,100 sellers were registered on the platform. At the bottom, the police placed an animated spaceship reminiscent of a 1990s video game called Nemesis. The agency organised multiple coordination meetings that made it possible for authorities to exchange critical information for the investigation. Europol contributed to the efficiency and effectiveness of the international investigations. As a result of the action, the platform’s infrastructure in the Netherlands was taken offline and its administrator – a 30-year-old German national – was arrested in Barcelona, Spain.
The EDTF is the premier money laundering task force in the nation and is comprised of more than 200 law enforcement personnel representing approximately thirty-five (35) federal, state, and local law enforcement and regulatory agencies. We will continue to make sure those who hide behind a keyboard and use the dark web to profit off lives face justice.” The FBI is committed to targeting and dismantling all criminal enterprises, especially those whose leaders distribute illegal substances on the dark web.” The long arm of the law extends to the dark web, and we will bring to justice those who try to hide their crimes there.” After a narcotics transaction was completed, cryptocurrency from the buyer’s account was transferred to the seller’s account, less the 5% fee that Incognito collected. To facilitate these financial transactions, Incognito Market had its own “bank,” which allowed its users to deposit cryptocurrency on the site into their own accounts.
Dutch Cops Reveal Takedown Of 'world's Largest Dark Web Market'
Vendors on Empire Market, according to the indictment, offered to sell various illicit goods and services, including controlled substances such as heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine, and LSD, as well as counterfeit currency and stolen credit card information, the indictment states. But with blockchain intelligence advancing and global partnerships strengthening, law enforcement is better positioned than ever to detect, disrupt, and dismantle these operations. Just as Incognito built on the playbook of its predecessors, future markets will learn from RapTor. They often sell across multiple markets or operate standalone storefronts via encrypted apps like Telegram and Signal. That extortion threat, combined with increased tracing and investigative pressure, led many users to flee the platform, dramatically reducing deposits and facilitating law enforcement’s final takedown.
- They may also raise privacy and surveillance concerns, warning that aggressive cyber policies risk collateral impacts on online freedom and legitimate users of anonymity technologies.
- “By cowardly hiding online, these traffickers have wreaked havoc across our country and directly fueled the fentanyl crisis and gun violence impacting our American communities and neighborhoods.
- Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York of narcotics conspiracy, money laundering, and conspiracy to sell adulterated and misbranded medication for owning and operating Incognito Market, one of the largest narcotics marketplaces on the internet.
- Last week, two men, both in custody, were charged in federal court in Chicago with operating “Empire Market,” a dark web marketplace that enabled users to buy and sell more than $430 million in illegal goods and services around the world.
- In September 2024, the US Secret Service’s Cyber Investigative Section, Netherlands Police, and the Dutch Fiscal Intelligence and Investigation Service (FIOD) seized web domains and infrastructure linked to UAPS, PM2BTC, and Cryptex.
“The FDA is committed to continuing its work to disrupt and dismantle the illegal sales of drugs on the dark web, where such sales far too often have tragic consequences,” said Chad Menster, Deputy Director of the Food and Drug Administration’s Office of Criminal Investigations (FDA OCI). Through close cooperation and intelligence sharing, officers across three continents identified and arrested suspects, sending a clear message to those who think they can hide in the shadows. “Thanks to the unwavering efforts by ICE HSI, Europol and our international partners, we’re cracking the code of the so-called ‘safe spaces’ for cybercriminals — they are in our sights and we’re not backing down.” These actions provided investigators across the globe with invaluable leads and evidence, strengthening the ongoing fight against cybercrime and illicit activities on the darknet. Community consensus and users close to the Abacus team ruled out an FBI operation as a likely reason, leaning more towards an exit scam explanation for the sudden takedown of the platform. In the days that followed, Abacus Market’s entire online infrastructure, including its clearnet mirror, went offline without a seizure banner or any indication that law enforcement was involved.
Major Police Operation Takes Down Notorious Dark Web Marketplace Archetyp Market
Authorities confiscated over two metric tons of drugs, 144 kilograms of fentanyl-laced substances, 180 firearms, and hundreds of millions in crypto assets, as per the DOJ statement released Thursday. McDonald operated under the monikers “Malachai Johnson,” “SouthSideOxy,” and “JefeDeMichoacan.” McDonald created, monitored, and maintained the darknet vendor profiles, including by updating drug listings and shipment options, tracking drug orders, and offloading Monero cryptocurrency received as drug deal payments into cryptocurrency wallets that McDonald controlled. According to court documents and statements made in court, these three prolific darknet vendors were collectively responsible for fulfilling over 13,000 drug orders shipped throughout the United States, ranging in size from user quantities, e.g., 5 pills, to “reseller” quantities, e.g., 10,000 pills. Joshua Vasquez, Joseph Vasquez, and Roman conspired to sell counterfeit Adderall containing methamphetamine on darknet markets such as Bohemia and Tor2Door. The court record also shows that Ta communicated with Srinivasan about drug orders, obtained fentanyl-laced pills and methamphetamine from sources of supply, stored those drugs in his residence, and mailed out packages with drugs to customers who had ordered them from Srinivasan on the “redlightlabs” account.
The video offered suggestions that multiple arrests were made at all levels of the Archetyp hierarchy, and although Europol's official announcement only confirmed one was made – the 30-year-old German – the BKA said seven people were arrested in Sweden. The Register asked the authorities involved for more details on these measures, and they clarified this meant arrests only. The mission of the EDTF is to disrupt, dismantle, or render ineffective, organizations involved in the laundering of proceeds of narcotics trafficking and other financial crimes.
The takeaway is that big darknet busts now require synchronized international action. Operation Deep Sentinel June 2025 was the Europe led operation that seized Archetyp Market. On Apr 5, 2022, German police with US help seized Hydra’s servers and crypto wallets. It dominated Russian and Eastern European trade in drugs and stolen data. Its admins announced the shutdown as authorities FBI, Europol, others were exposing dozens of its vendors in a sting Operation SaboTor.
