Attorney General Merrick Garland introduced Tuesday that the division’s investigative operation concentrating on fentanyl and opioid traffickers on the darkish net resulted in a file variety of arrests and seizures.

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Attorney General Merrick Garland introduced Tuesday that the division’s investigative operation concentrating on fentanyl and opioid traffickers on the darkish net resulted in a file variety of arrests and seizures.

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The Department of Justice introduced Tuesday it is made a file variety of arrests and seizures in a coordinated worldwide effort to focus on fentanyl and opioid gross sales on the darkish net.

The operation, known as SpecTor, started in October 2021 and spanned the United States, Europe and South America. Across the U.S. and eight different international locations, authorities arrested 288 folks. They seized 85 kilograms of medicine, 117 firearms and $53 million in money and on-line currencies.

“Our message to criminals on the dark web is this: You can try to hide in the furthest reaches of the internet, but the Justice Department will find you and hold you accountable for your crimes,” Attorney General Merrick Garland mentioned at a press convention Tuesday.

Garland mentioned drug traffickers flip to the darkish net to promote unlawful medication in alternate for cryptocurrency. The medication could also be marketed as brand-name prescription drugs however the drugs could be counterfeit and laced with fentanyl.

The operation, which was led by the division’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) group, concerned different businesses such because the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and 30 U.S. attorneys’ workplaces.

In the U.S. alone, 153 folks had been arrested. Authorities seized 104 unlawful weapons and over 200,000 drugs, together with ones containing fentanyl, the DOJ mentioned.

The actions from the DOJ are the most recent within the division’s efforts to crack down on the fentanyl disaster and drug trafficking on the darkish net.

Last month, officers mentioned they recognized and infiltrated the Mexican drug group generally known as the Sinaloa drug cartel, which the DOJ says is basically answerable for the fentanyl disaster killing tens of thousands of Americans every year.

In 2021, a world effort from the DOJ known as Operation DarkHunTor concerned the arrests of 150 drug traffickers engaged on the darkish net and the seizure of $32 million in money and cryptocurrencies.