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Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Operation Dark HunTor Sees 150 Arrests, 234 Kilograms of Drugs and $32 Million Seized

 "Socalj" For Borderland Beat

Following the DarkMarket takedown in January 2021, U.S. and international law enforcement agencies identified Darknet drug vendors and buyers, resulting in a series of complementary, but separate, law enforcement investigations.

The Department of Justice, through the Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team joined Europol to announce the results of Operation Dark HunTor, a coordinated international effort on three continents to disrupt opioid trafficking on the Darknet. The operation, which was conducted across the United States, Australia, and Europe, was a result of the continued partnership between JCODE and foreign law enforcement against the illegal sale of drugs and other illicit goods and services. Operation Dark HunTor builds on the success of last year’s Operation DisrupTor and the coordinated law enforcement takedown earlier this year of DarkMarket, the world’s then-largest illegal marketplace on the Darknet. At the time, German authorities arrested the marketplace’s alleged operator and seized the site’s infrastructure, providing investigators across the world with a trove of evidence. Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre (EC3) and JCODE have since been compiling intelligence packages to identify key targets.

Following the DarkMarket takedown in January 2021, U.S. and international law enforcement agencies identified Darknet drug vendors and buyers, resulting in a series of complementary, but separate, law enforcement investigations. Operation Dark HunTor actions have resulted in the arrest of 150 alleged Darknet drug traffickers and other criminals who engaged in tens of thousands of sales of illicit goods and services across Australia, Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Prior to, but in support of Operation Dark HunTor, Italian authorities also shut down the DeepSea and Berlusconi dark web marketplaces which boasted over 40,000 advertisements of illegal products. Four alleged administrators were arrested, and €3.6 million in cryptocurrencies were seized in coordinated U.S.-Italian operations.

Operation Dark HunTor resulted in the seizure of over $31.6 million in both cash and virtual currencies; approximately 234 kilograms (kg) of drugs worldwide including 152.1 kg of amphetamine, 21.6 kg of cocaine, 26.9 kg of opioids, 32.5 kg of MDMA, in addition to more than 200,000 ecstasy, fentanyl, oxycodone, hydrocodone, and methamphetamine pills, and counterfeit medicine ; and 45 firearms. Darknet vendor accounts were also identified and attributed to real individuals selling illicit goods on active marketplaces, as well as inactive Darknet marketplaces such as Dream, WallStreet, White House, DeepSea, and Dark Market.

Operation Dark HunTor led to 65 arrests in the United States, one in Bulgaria, three in France, 47 in Germany, four in the Netherlands, 24 in the United Kingdom, four in Italy, and two in Switzerland. A number of investigations are still ongoing.


“This 10-month massive international law enforcement operation spanned across three continents and involved dozens of U.S. and international law enforcement agencies to send one clear message to those hiding on the Darknet peddling illegal drugs: there is no dark internet. We can and we will shine a light,” said Deputy Attorney General Monaco. “Operation Dark HunTor prevented countless lives from being lost to this dangerous trade in illicit and counterfeit drugs, because one pill can kill. The Department of Justice with our international partners will continue to crack down on lethal counterfeit opioids purchased on the Darknet.”

“The men and women of the department’s Criminal Division, in close collaboration with our team of interagency and international partners, stand ready to leverage all our resources to protect our communities through the pursuit of those who profit from addiction, under the false belief that they are anonymous on the Darknet,” said Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite Jr of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Only through a whole of government and, in this case, global approach to tackling cyber-enabled drug trafficking can we hope to achieve the significant results illustrated in Operation Dark HunTor.”

“The FBI continues to identify and bring to justice drug dealers who believe they can hide their illegal activity through the Darknet,” said FBI Director Christopher A. Wray. “Criminal darknet markets exist so drug dealers can profit at the expense of others’ safety. The FBI is committed to working with our JCODE and EUROPOL law enforcement partners to disrupt those markets and the borderless, worldwide trade in illicit drugs they enable.”

“Today, we face new and increasingly dangerous threats as drug traffickers expand into the digital world and use the Darknet to sell dangerous drugs like fentanyl and methamphetamine,” said Administrator Anne Milgram of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). “These drug traffickers are flooding the United States with deadly, fake pills, driving the U.S. overdose crisis, spurring violence, and threatening the safety and health of American communities. DEA’s message today is clear: criminal drug networks operating on the Darknet, trying to hide from law enforcement, can no longer hide. DEA, the U.S. interagency, and our valued international partners, are committed to dismantling drug networks wherever they are, including on the Darknet.”

“Illicit darkweb marketplaces represent a significant threat to public health, economic, and national security,” said Acting Director Tae Johnson of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). “By working collaboratively and sharing intelligence across local, state, federal, and international law enforcement agencies, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and its partners are disrupting and dismantling transnational criminal organizations responsible for introducing dangerous narcotics and other contraband into our communities.”

“The dark web has become an underground facilitator of illegal commerce,” said Chief Postal Inspector Gary Barksdale of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS). “Criminals use the dark web to sell and ship narcotics and other dangerous goods around the world, often relying on the postal system and private carriers to deliver these illegal products. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service is committed to finding and stopping these drug traffickers.”

“The Darknet no longer provides a concealing cloak for criminals to operate,” said IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Chief Jim Lee. “The expertise of our agents and law enforcement partners helped uncover significant quantities of narcotics and money — both cash and virtual currency — derived from illicit means.”

“The point of operations such as the one today is to put criminals operating on the dark web on notice: the law enforcement community has the means and global partnerships to unmask them and hold them accountable for their illegal activities, even in areas of the dark web,” said Europol’s Deputy Executive Director of Operations Jean-Philippe Lecouffe.

The extensive operation, which lasted 10 months, resulted in dozens of federal operations and prosecutions, including:

Four search warrants were executed in furtherance of a multiagency investigation resulting in the seizure of approximately $1 million in drug proceeds (including approximately $700,000 in cryptocurrency), eight firearms, one vehicle, and various controlled substances including MDMA, LSD, and cocaine. The FBI, DEA, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and USPIS jointly conducted the investigation. According to court documents, the targets of the investigation were operating over multiple Darknet marketplaces to traffic methamphetamine, counterfeit pressed Adderall (containing methamphetamine), MDMA, cocaine, and ketamine to customers throughout the United States. The investigation revealed that the organization’s base of operations was in Houston, Texas, and the organization shipped to various cities throughout the United States. Six defendants are charged in a five-count indictment in the Southern District of Ohio with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances, sale of counterfeit drugs, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

The FBI in conjunction with the USPIS, FDA, and DEA, had been investigating a criminal enterprise that operated two Darknet vendor accounts. One of the accounts was operated out of the Miami area and the other out of the Providence, Rhode Island, area. According to court documents, the vendors, Luis Spencer, 31, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Olatunji Dawodu, 36, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and Alex Ogando, 35, of Providence, Rhode Island, allegedly advertised and sold pressed fentanyl pills throughout the United States. Agents identified several other co-conspirators and obtained search and arrest warrants for each. During the execution of the warrants, agents seized approximately $770,000, one weapon and approximately 3.5 kilograms of pressed fentanyl. Spencer, Dawodu, and Ogando are charged in the District of Columbia with conspiracy to distribute 400 grams or more of a mixture and substance containing a detectable amount of fentanyl.

Kevin Olando Ombisi, 32, and Eric Bernard Russell Jr, 36, both of Katy, Texas, are alleged to have participated in Darknet controlled substances trafficking activities using the moniker Cardingmaster and are charged in a 10-count indictment in the Western District of Tennessee with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, distribution of controlled substances, attempted unlawful distribution of controlled substances, sale of counterfeit drugs, money laundering conspiracy, and mail fraud. According to court documents, Ombisi and Russell are alleged to have used the moniker Cardingmaster and conspired and attempted to, and did unlawfully distribute the Schedule II controlled substance methamphetamine, which was falsely represented to be Adderall, through the mail in the Western District of Tennessee and elsewhere. In conjunction with their arrests, the government seized more than $5 million in assets alleged to be connected to the drug trafficking activity. The case was investigated by the DEA, HSI, USPIS, and the FDA, and is being prosecuted by the Criminal Division’s Fraud Section and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee.

An indictment and criminal complaint are merely allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

Source DOJ


19 comments:

  1. I thought italian mafia runs the shit in the US...or there's much more powerful players?

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    1. Italian Mafia in the US is a shadow of what it once was. Its not as powerful as it was during the 5 families reign. Thats when the real money and power were around. At least on the East coast and that side of the US.. now in Cali the powerful mafia is the Mexican Mafia. Im in prison and i see it first hand the power and reach they have and noe only in Cali but here its undisputed.. there reach is far. There is gangs in other states all over the US claiming the 13/allegiance to the EME.
      There is many neighborhoods in Seattle Oregon Nevada AZ NM And Colorado that claim the 13 and are in fact in direct contact with a big homie or with a secretary for a Señor.
      In NM there is the New Mexican Mafia which was started by a Eme member who was arrested in NM and for a while there was bad blood between the organizations but now they made an alliance and its all good. Also in AZ before the new agreement it was dangerous for a south sider to go to az prison because he would be assaulted but now both mexican mafias (AZ also have a MM but its own entity have a truce. Az Southsiders are safe in Cali prison and vice versa but Az MM has no say in Cali poltics and vice versa. Same in NM.
      Ppl always say that the Eme lost power and arenr what they used to be but they are dead wrong. They just move different and now that the big homies were for the mostvpart released from the SHU and AdSeg contact with the streets is so easy it only helped expand there reach. Literally they made themselves millionaires from a prison cell in th SHU having to speak through code, through recorded calls and kites that would take a while to reach its destination and they did that. Noe imagine what they can do with a phone.
      Where im at the senor has clandestine casinos all through cali, has grow ops, moves tons of drugs ,fraud, loan sharkingm eveything and anything. And thats not including the legit business they have and the money they invested in real estatem many big homies literally OWN their neighborhoods Homes, apt complexes, shopping plazas, parking structures etc. Its crazy lol

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    2. That's cool that you have access to the internet. I had no idea those privileges were an option these days. Hope you are well and stay strong Sapo.

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    3. 2:33 italians are nothing on the level of Mexican mafia! Mexican Mafia are the strongest organization in the US

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    4. 5:14 from what i know all this street gangs like bloods and crips are the bottom line! I heard Mexicans runs all the prisons in California,and also keeps very low profile

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    5. Just because one of the online market places were based in Italy (Berlusconi), it does not mean it was ran by the mob lol… I am sure some clan(s) supplied a number of merchants on there but that at best.

      DeepSea was an English speaking site, from what I have researched, so I am confused on it’s Italian connection… It may be possible that is where their servers were hosted, so again… just because there was Italian law enforcement involved, don’t go automatically assuming it was mob related FFS…

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    6. Dont get it twisted if anybody is a dominant force in the Cyber underground its the Russians aka FSB

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    7. 6:42 yes as I have been saying Yakuza and Russian Mafia, bring in lots of money, but this wimp kept blasting me away, that's it's cjng.
      Cyber underground of Russia, has done Cyber ransom to hospitals and companies in USA, the ransom is in the millions, which companies do pay. They do need to be doing crimes like the Mexican cartels do.

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    8. Hey lame i meant to same no name. Yeah internet isnt a privilege but if u have enough money to spend a few tjousand dollars you can buy yourself a phone in here.

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  2. Excellent 👍 catch of international criminals. Our tax dollars at work.Plus the money siezed. Great job .

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  3. Animo Sicarios.

    Ya saben chavalones cuando vayan a usar el Deep Web bien pilas.

    A new course has been created for all Gente Nueva Special Forces Tier 1 Operators .Guest Speakers will include Mister Snowden and ex colonel from Bureau 121 NKorea cyber warfare Spec unit .

    By the way there will be new upgrades to the 6G tactical tablets.

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    Replies
    1. I am too sleepy to voice a comment, but how is miss Herrera doing.?

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    2. Herrera is dating that Puerto Rican guy Rubio in NY. She is doing great.

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    3. Hi I was going to order a 12 guage tactical Shotgun, semi automatic, with 5 round banana clips, but just like Whitey E Coyote, I was denied the purchase, not because I am mentally unstable, but Bec I live in California. I am pissed, I am ready to shoot up a CJNG safe house, like Barney Harris did in North Carolina.

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    4. 7:52 order through the dark web.

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    5. 9:35, I miss you too.🌈🐰🐦🔪🔫

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