270 arrested worldwide in Europol dark web drug sweep; Four in the Netherlands
Four suspects in the Netherlands are among 270 individuals arrested worldwide in a sweeping international crackdown on dark web drug and arms trafficking, Europol announced Thursday. Dubbed Operation RapTor, the coordinated effort spanned four continents and targeted buyers and sellers operating on shuttered illicit marketplaces, including Nemesis, Tor2Door, Bohemia, and Kingdom Markets.
The operation led to the seizure of over 184 million euros in cash and cryptocurrencies, more than two tonnes of narcotics including amphetamines, cocaine, ketamine, opioids, and cannabis, and over 180 firearms. Law enforcement also recovered tasers, knives, 12,500 counterfeit products, and more than four tonnes of illegal tobacco.
The Netherlands' contribution to the operation was led by Team High Tech Crime, with involvement from National Investigations and Special Operations (NIS), the Post Interventie Team (PIT), and the National Intelligence, Expertise and Operational Support unit (NIEO).
In total, law enforcement agencies in 10 countries carried out arrests: 130 in the United States, 42 in Germany, 37 in the United Kingdom, 29 in France, 19 in South Korea, four each in Austria and the Netherlands, three in Brazil, and one each in Switzerland and Spain.
The joint operation follows the 2023 Operation SpecTor, which led to 288 arrests, and builds on intelligence gathered during those previous takedowns. Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre compiled and analyzed intelligence packages from the seized marketplaces and distributed them to national authorities through the Joint Cybercrime Action Taskforce based in The Hague.
“The dark web is not beyond the reach of law enforcement,” said Edvardas Šileris, head of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre. “Through close cooperation and intelligence sharing, officers across four continents identified and arrested suspects, sending a clear message to those who think they can hide in the shadows. Europol will continue working with our partners to make the internet safer for everyone.”
Magnus Brunner, European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, praised the operation’s scope and impact: “This operation is proof of how criminal gangs operate today: offline and online, internationally and locally, using technology to their full advantage. To counter this, coordinated action is essential. And that is exactly the added value Europol provides.”
Brunner emphasized the need for continued support: “To stay effective in a rapidly changing world, we also need to better support our law enforcement agencies to make them future proof. And that is exactly what we aim to do with ProtectEU, our Internal Security Strategy. We also need to strengthen Europol — with more funding and with an updated mandate.”
According to Europol, many of those arrested had conducted thousands of transactions on dark web platforms. They used encryption tools and cryptocurrency to obscure their identities and operations, but investigators were able to trace them using data from the dismantled marketplaces.
Officials say the seizures mark a major disruption to global criminal supply chains. Recent trends in dark web activity show vendors moving away from centralized marketplaces to single-vendor shops to reduce exposure and avoid marketplace fees.
Although illegal drugs remain the dominant commodity, authorities noted a growing market for prescription drug trafficking and fraudulent services, including fake hitman ads and scam listings.
“This operational model, also used in 2023’s Operation SpecTor, demonstrates that the takedown of a criminal platform is not the end of the story — it is the beginning of follow-up investigations aimed at identifying and arresting high-value vendors,” Europol stated.
