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German Police Arrests Student Operator of Dark Web, Likely to Face 10 Years


Student operating biggest dark web forum arrested

A 22-year-old student, that German federal police suspect to be the leader of one of the biggest German-speaking, dark-web forums has been captured.

The accused, whose identity has not yet been disclosed, is charged with operating a criminal trading platform and will face up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. 

He was caught in October when officers and federal cops from the Central Office for Cybercrime Bavaria (ZCB) inspected two homes and seized systems, smartphones, and other evidence. 

Dark web responsible for shooting rampage at Munich Mall

As per German law enforcement, the student is from Lower Bavaria, and who worked as an operator of the third variant of Deutschland "im Deep Web" since November 2018. 

The initial version's tor website surfaced on the criminal underground landscape in 2013. After three years, an 18-year-old bought a gun and 300 rounds of ammo via the illegal marketplace before killing at least 9 people in a shooting frenzy at a Munich mall. 

Police closed the operation, however, new versions appeared

German police closed down Deutschland im Deep Web in 2017 after the murderous rampage, and also captured the operator during the time, who was convicted to seven years in prison in 2018. 

After that, however, two new variants of the marketplace surfaced, selling weapons, illegal goods, and weapons, under the motto "No control, everything allowed." 

The police closed down the latest version of the dark-web souk in March 2022. During the time, it had nearly 16,000 registered users and 72 active traders, as per law enforcement. 

The site currently shows a banner that says: "The platform and the criminal content have been seized by the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Bavarian Central Office for the Prosecution of Cybercrime."


Deutschland Arrest, joint effort by federal agencies

The Deutschland im Deep Web arrest comes after another dark web shut down earlier this year through a joint effort by German federal police and US law enforcement agencies. 

In April, the two countries slayed Hydra, the longest-operating known dark-web marketplace trafficking in illicit drugs and money-laundering services. 

First, German police captured Hydra servers and cryptocurrency wallets having $25 million in Bitcoins, therefore closing down the online souk. 


Charges pressed, dark web sanctioned


Also, the US Justice Department declared criminal charges against one of the suspected Hydra leaders and system admins, 30-year-old Dmitry Olegovich Pavlov from Russia, and the US treasury Department sanctioned the dark-web atrocities. 

The U.S. Department of the Treasury in its press release said:

"Russia is a haven for cybercriminals. Today’s action against Hydra and Garantex builds upon recent sanctions against virtual currency exchanges SUEX and CHATEX, both of which, like Garantex, operated out of Federation Tower in Moscow, Russia. Treasury is committed to taking action against actors that, like Hydra and Garantex, willfully disregard anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism"

Germany Shuts Down World's Largest Illegal Marketplace on Darknet

 

The German authorities have confiscated the servers of Hydra Market, the most well-known Russian darknet network for drug sales and money laundering. The authorities were also able to seize 543 bitcoins worth a little more than $25 million from the earnings of Hydra. 

The money seized reflects the scale of the Hydra market, which had over 19,000 registered vendor accounts serving at least 17 million clients worldwide. Hydra Market had a turnover of $1.35 billion in 2020, according to the Central Office for Combating Cybercrime (ZIT) and Germany's Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), making it the world's largest darknet market. 

Elliptic, a blockchain analytics firm, confirmed the authorities' confiscation of digital assets today, charting the action as 88 transactions totalling 543.3 bitcoin. Hydra also provided stolen databases, falsified documents, and hacking for hire services, in addition to the core focus of narcotics and money laundering. 

An investigation into a shady area 

The BKA, operating on behalf of the Attorney General's Office in Frankfurt am Main, confiscated the market's infrastructure following a coordinated international law enforcement action, according to Hydra's homepage. This move was made possible following a lengthy examination of the platform's previously unknown operators and administrators. 

 Hydra Market had a Bitcoin Bank Mixer, which disguised all bitcoin transactions done on the platform, making it difficult for law enforcement organisations to track money gained through illicit activity, according to the BKA announcement. 

According to a BKA spokesperson, no arrests have been made in this operation, and they are unable to give any other information on the evaluation of the confiscated infrastructure owing to ongoing investigations.