The AlphaBay Market was shut down by the law enforcement, exactly like its predecessor Silk Road, and the alleged mastermind committed suicide in jail. AlphaBay Market was considered the largest marketplace on the Dark Web for drugs, guns, and other illegal goods competing against the likes of Abraxas, Dream, and Hansa. The AlphaBay Market went down last week on Tuesday, July 4th, without any explanation, many users that have purchased products on the marketplace fear the Exit-Scam. A few days after the disconcerting disappearance, the Wall Street Journal reported that the black marketplace shut down after authorities in the United States, Canada, and Thailand conducted several raids and arrested Alexandre Cazes, who is suspected to be an operators of the AlphaBay Market.

“An online marketplace that sold illegal goods on the so-called Dark Web was shut last week following action by international authorities, according to people familiar with the matter.” states the WSJ

Cazes was resident in Canada, but he was arrested by law enforcement in Thailand. Police also seized “four Lamborghini cars and three houses worth about 400 million baht ($11.7 million) in total.”

Local authorities have taken him into custody in Bangkok on July 5th, on the same day the police executed two raids on residences in Quebec, Canada.

“Investigators with the RCMP executed search warrants in Montreal and Trois-Rivières Wednesday morning, reportedly in connection with the sale of merchandise on the “Dark Web” of the internet.” reported the Montreal Gazette. Now there is the dramatic part of the story, Cazes was awaiting extradition to the United States when a guard found him dead in the jail cell on Wednesday. According to the Chiang Rai Times, Cazes has hanged himself using a towel. AlphaBay was considered the “the new Silk Road,” it emerged in 2014 and became of the most prominent dark web marketplaces. “Narcotics Suppression Bureau (NSB) Pol Maj Gen Sunthon Chalermkiat told Thai media yesterday that an initial examination of the body of Canadian Alexander Cazes, points to suicide.” reports the Chiangraitimes. “A duty officer noticed a towel hanging from the toilet door in his cell about 7am, but could not see him, police said. The officer unlocked and entered the cell and found Cazes dead in the toilet.” The case anyway has not been resolved, law enforcement has to discover if there were other operators behind the AlphaBay Market and which were their roles.

Don’t forget also that there is a lot of money still stored inside its wallets and probably someone could access them.

“It is also unclear as to what Cazes may have told the authorities in regards to AlphaBay, its users, or other people working on the platform.” continues the Chiangrai Times.

“On Reddit, there is some wild speculation as to whether or not these claims are true. It is hard to determine if Cazes is the real AlphaBay admin, but all of the information seems to hint at that outcome. His arrest coincides with the platform going down, and it would also explain why AlphaBay has not resurfaced. On the platform, the admin is known as “deSnakes”, which very well could indeed by Cazes.”

We can consider the case closed, the AlphaBay Market was shut down by the law enforcement, exactly like its predecessor Silk Road.

Pierluigi Paganini (Security Affairs – AlphaBay Market, Dark Web)

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