Drug sale on the Internet: Illegal online marketplace: Police arrest Germans

Investigators have switched off one of the oldest trading platforms for criminals in the Darknet, through which drugs such as heroin, cocaine and fentanyl were sold. As the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) announced, the alleged administrator of «Archetyp Market», a 30 -year -old German, was arrested by the Spanish police on Wednesday at his residence in Barcelona.

The suspicion of the gang -like unauthorized trade in narcotics is not a small amount against him. According to BKA, he is said to have operated the illegal online marketplace with several moderators. According to Euro Just, “Archetyp Market” was active for more than five years.

Mobile phones and several million euros ensured

As the BKA continued, in addition to the accused’s apartment in the Spanish metropolis, an object in Hanover, in the district of Minden-Lübbecke and in the Romanian capital Bucharest were searched. Assets of around 7.8 million euros and numerous evidence were ensured. The police had secured and switched off the server infrastructure used for the operation of the criminal platform in a data center in the Netherlands.

After the main suspect was arrested, there were further searches in Germany and Sweden. It was particularly about the moderators and those who had sold on the platform. Seven other suspects were arrested in Sweden.

Where were there other searches?

According to BKA, there were searches in Germany in two objects in North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony in this context as well as in one object in Hesse and Baden-Württemberg. This time drugs were also confiscated.

With over 2,800 sales offers, “Archetyp Market” was one of the trading platforms with most German narcotics on the Darknet. The payment of drug sales had run exclusively through the Monero cryptocurrency.