Police in the northern German city of Oldenburg "were able to arrest the alleged operator of the suspected world's largest illegal marketplace on the darknet, the DarkMarket, at the weekend," prosecutors said in a statement.
"Investigators were able to shut down the marketplace and turn off the server on Monday," they added, calling it the culmination of a months-long international law enforcement operation.
#UPDATE A German-led police operation has taken down the "world's largest" darknet marketplace, whose Australian alleged operator used it to facilitate the sale of drugs, stolen credit card data and malware, prosecutors say https://t.co/anuEj8Slh6
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) January 12, 2021
At current exchange rates, that represented turnover valued at 140 million euros.
Drugs, credit cards, SIMS
The marketplace offered for sale "all kinds of drugs" as well as "counterfeit money, stolen and fake credit card data, anonymous SIM cards, malware and much more".
A 34-year-old Australian national believed to be the DarkMarket operator was arrested near the German-Danish border. Twenty servers used by the site in Moldova and Ukraine were seized.
"Investigators expect to use the data saved there to launch new probes against the moderators, sellers and buyers of the marketplace," prosecutors said.
The prime suspect was brought before a judge but declined to speak. He was placed in pre-trial detention.
The American FBI, DEA narcotics law enforcement division and IRS tax authority took part in the probe along with police from Australia, Britain, Denmark, Switzerland, Ukraine and Moldova.
