Police have closed down the largest marketplace on the "dark web", where traders sell illicit items such as drugs, weapons and stolen data - after an international investigation.
US law enforcement agencies announced they had been working with Europol and police in the Netherlands, UK, France and Lithuania to shut AlphaBay and arrest those involved in running it. The site went offline earlier this month, prompting speculation among users that it had been seized by the authorities.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Acting FBI director Andrew McCabe called the operation a "landmark" in international law enforcement.
US Attorney General Jeff Sessions said: "The dark net is not a place to hide. This is likely one of the most important criminal investigations of the year – taking down the largest dark net marketplace in history."
Europol believes the raid will lead to hundreds of new investigations in Europe, saying AlphaBay carried more than 250,000 listings for illegal drugs and toxic chemicals.
According to Reuters, the operation is "one of the largest ever taken against criminals on the dark web", a part of the internet accessible only through certain software and typically used anonymously.
The closure of AlphaBay is "likely to strike a blow to the international drug trade that has increasingly moved online in recent years", adds the news agency, but criminals "will just flock to other places".
Earlier this month, the BBC reported the arrest of 26-year-old Canadian Alexandre Cazes, an alleged AlphaBay administrator who was detained in Thailand following a joint operation between US, Canadian and Thai authorities.
He was later found dead in a Bangkok jail cell in what the US Justice Department said was a suicide.
-
Political cartoons for February 10Cartoons Tuesday's political cartoons include halftime hate, the America First Games, and Cupid's woe
-
Why is Prince William in Saudi Arabia?Today’s Big Question Government requested royal visit to boost trade and ties with Middle East powerhouse, but critics balk at kingdom’s human rights record
-
Wuthering Heights: ‘wildly fun’ reinvention of the classic novel lacks depthTalking Point Emerald Fennell splits the critics with her sizzling spin on Emily Brontë’s gothic tale
-
Epstein files topple law CEO, roil UK governmentSpeed Read Peter Mandelson, Britain’s former ambassador to the US, is caught up in the scandal
-
Iran and US prepare to meet after skirmishesSpeed Read The incident comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East
-
Israel retrieves final hostage’s body from GazaSpeed Read The 24-year-old police officer was killed during the initial Hamas attack
-
China’s Xi targets top general in growing purgeSpeed Read Zhang Youxia is being investigated over ‘grave violations’ of the law
-
Panama and Canada are negotiating over a crucial copper mineIn the Spotlight Panama is set to make a final decision on the mine this summer
-
Why Greenland’s natural resources are nearly impossible to mineThe Explainer The country’s natural landscape makes the task extremely difficult
-
Iran cuts internet as protests escalateSpeed Reada Government buildings across the country have been set on fire
-
US nabs ‘shadow’ tanker claimed by RussiaSpeed Read The ship was one of two vessels seized by the US military
