The Department of Justice, working in conjunction with the FBI and international partners, has seized a record amount of illegal drugs, firearms, and drug trafficking proceeds, according to a press release on Thursday.
Attorney General Pam Bondi, along with the DOJ’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team and international law enforcement partners, announced the results of Operation RapTor, a major crackdown on dark web drug trafficking. The operation led to the arrests of 270 dark web vendors, buyers, and administrators across Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
Operation RapTor marks the most extensive seizure in JCODE’s history, netting over $200 million in cash and digital assets, more than two metric tons of narcotics, 144 kilograms of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced substances, and over 180 firearms, the DOJ said.
“This historic international seizure of firearms, deadly drugs, and illegal funds will save lives,” said Bondi. “Criminals cannot hide behind computer screens or seek refuge on the dark web – this Justice Department will identify and eliminate threats to the American people regardless of where they originate.”
“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. But the ease and accessibility of their crimes ends today,” added FBI Director Kash Patel.
“The FBI could not do this work without our partners both at home and abroad, and the staggering success of this year’s record-breaking amount of fentanyl, guns, and drugs seized prove that our efforts are working,” he continued. “Anyone looking to anonymously harm our citizens through illicit darknet trafficking: your days of recklessness are numbered.”
“These predators who peddled poison on the dark web might have thought they are untouchable — hiding behind screens, pushing fentanyl, fueling overdoses, and cashing in on misery. However, Operation RapTor just proved them wrong,” noted DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy.
“DEA and our global partners reached across borders, across platforms, and across currencies to rip their networks apart. Let this stand as a warning: no mask, no marketplace, and no digital wallet can hide you from facing justice,” Murphy noted further.
Operation RapTor was a coordinated global effort involving law enforcement agencies across the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia, aimed at disrupting fentanyl and opioid trafficking, along with the sale of other illegal goods and services on the darknet, the DOJ press release noted.
The operation builds on the momentum of previous years’ successes, including the takedowns of major darknet marketplaces such as Nemesis, Tor2Door, Bohemia, and Kingdom Markets. These seizures provided law enforcement with valuable intelligence and investigative leads.
JCODE and Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) continue to develop intelligence packages to identify and target key entities involved in darknet criminal activity, the release added.
“Operation RapTor shows that the dark web is not beyond the reach of law enforcement,” said Head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, Edvardas Šileris. “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.
“Europol will continue working with our partners to make the internet safer for everyone,” Šileris noted further.
“This record-breaking operation sends a clear message to every trafficker hiding behind a screen—your anonymity ends where our global reach begins,” Acting Director Todd Lyons of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said.
“Thanks to the unwavering efforts by ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations (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,” he added.
