Sellers and buyers, and also administrators of illegal market places often believe they are safe from detection by the police and the judicial authorities. By carrying out criminal investigations into these criminals, and prosecuting them, it will become clear that the darkweb is not as anonymous as its users might think. The international cooperation between the Netherlands police, the Public Prosecution Service the FBI, Europol, and the authorities in Germany and Lithuania has seriously damaged the image of credibility and reliability of these market places. An important measure is the seizure of the servers on which the market places are hosted. A unique aspect of the investigation into Hansa Market was the fact that the police and the Public Prosecution Service seized control within the framework of an undercover operation. A wealth of information will be studied in the coming weeks.

As from today, people who visit Hansa Market see a splash page from the police that gives an explanation of the criminal investigation.

More about: the arrests in Germany

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