(ANSA-AFP) - BERLIN, JAN 12 - A German-led police sting has
taken down the "world's largest" darknet marketplace, whose
Australian alleged operator used it to facilitate the sale of
drugs, stolen credit card data and malware, prosecutors said
Tuesday. At the time of its closure, DarkMarket had nearly
500,000 users and more than 2,400 vendors worldwide, as the
coronavirus pandemic leads much of the street trade in narcotics
to go online. Police in the northern city of Oldenburg "were
able to arrest the alleged operator of the suspected world's
largest illegal marketplace on the darknet, the DarkMarket, at
the weekend," prosecutors said in a statement. "Investigators
were able to shut down the marketplace and turn off the server
on Monday," they added, calling it the culmination of a
months-long international law enforcement operation. A total of
at least 320,000 transactions were carried out via the
marketplace, with more than 4,650 bitcoin and 12,800 monero --
two of the most common cryptocurrencies -- changing hands,
prosecutors said. (ANSA-AFP).
© Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved