Drugs on the Darknet
Global operation targeting darknet trafficking leads to 270 arrests, seizures of drugs and cryptocurrency
An FBI-led search in Los Angeles in April was related to Operation RapTor, a global effort to disrupt fentanyl and opioid trafficking on the darknet. The operation--part of the U.S. Department of Justice's Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE)--included operations by law enforcement partners in Europe, South America, Asia, and the United States.
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When FBI agents entered a Los Angeles apartment they believed to be a hub for one of the most prolific methamphetamine and cocaine distributors on the darknet, they weren’t surprised by what they found.
In one of the bedrooms, they saw what looked like a tidy small-business center. There were desks, a laptop, thumb drives, a printer, a shredder, postage stamps, racks of addressed envelopes—and what appeared to be copious amounts of the venture’s singular product: illegal drugs.
The April 9 search and arrest of four subjects—led by the FBI’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team and carried out by FBI Los Angeles and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA)—was part of a coordinated operation across four continents that has seized more than $200 million in currency and digital assets and over 1,500 kilograms of drugs, including fentanyl.
In Operation RapTor, participating law enforcement agencies in the U.S., Europe, South America, and Asia arrested 270 darknet vendors, buyers, and administrators. (The darknet is a portion of the internet that is not indexed by traditional search engines and is only accessible through specialized software.) The results of the operation were announced today.
More than 144 kilograms (approximately 317 pounds) of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics were seized in this year’s operation, which included arrests in Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. Just one kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people, according to the DEA. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says synthetic opioids like fentanyl are the primary driver of overdose deaths in the U.S.
The FBI, which established JCODE in 2018 to target drug trafficking—particularly of fentanyl and other opioids—on the darknet, has coordinated global law enforcement operations like RapTor every year since the initiative’s inception.
"By cowardly hiding online, these traffickers have wreaked havoc across our country and directly fueled the fentanyl crisis and gun violence impacting our American communities and neighborhoods," said FBI Director Kash Patel. "But the ease and accessibility of their crimes ends today."
"The darknet vendors that we investigate, they truly operate on a global scale."
Aaron Pinder, unit chief, FBI Hi-Tech Organized Crime Unit
A Victim's Story
'These are not good people you're talking to on the darknet'
Reed Churchill was 27 when he died in 2022 from a lethal dose of fentanyl that he thought was oxycodone. An investigation revealed he purchased the pills on the darknet from a drug trafficking organization based in Southern California that supplied fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills and other drugs to customers in all 50 states. Four subjects were arrested and received lengthy prison sentences. Reed's parents, David and Penny Churchill, shared their son's story hoping to prevent others from the dangers of purchasing drugs on the darknet or taking pills that are not prescribed from the pharmacy.
"If you didn't get the pill yourself from the pharmacy with the prescription with your name on it, don't take it," Dr. David Churchill said. "These are not good people you're talking to on the darknet, whether it's about drugs or pornography or whatever is on there. Nobody on that side of the computer has any good intentions for you." Video | Transcript
In the Los Angeles operation, investigators found large amounts of cash and suspected drugs. According to the indictment, the four subjects arrested operated approximately 10 darknet vendors on 17 different markets—which can resemble legitimate e-commerce sites—where they sold cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and ketamine to customers in exchange for cryptocurrency. They then allegedly packaged and shipped the parcels of drugs through the U.S. Postal Service.
“It's not like when you're dealing with your local neighborhood dealer or even a cartel member,” said Aaron Pinder, unit chief of the Hi-Tech Organized Crime Unit at FBI Headquarters, which runs JCODE. “The darknet vendors that we investigate, they truly operate on a global scale in their ability to reach and sell drugs to customers out there.”
Darknet marketplaces may look familiar to online shoppers. There are shopping carts, thousands of products, sales promotions, and customer reviews. But instead of food, clothes or furniture, the sites’ menus direct customers to products like cocaine, heroin, fentanyl, and other illegal drugs.
Investigators found envelopes, postage, and addresses during a JCODE operation—part of Operation RapTor—in in Los Angeles in April. According to charges against four subjects in that case, the four subjects who were arrested operated approximately 10 darknet vendors on 17 different markets.
More than 144 kilograms (approximately 317 pounds) of fentanyl or fentanyl-laced narcotics were seized in this year’s operation, which included arrests in Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. One kilogram of fentanyl has the potential to kill 500,000 people, according to the DEA.
The marketplaces are accessed through software that claims to make the buyer and seller anonymous. Drug users anywhere in the world can buy narcotics on their phones or computers without having to risk a face-to-face interaction.
The JCODE team’s mission includes educating people about the risks involved in purchasing drugs on the darknet. One of the biggest lessons is getting potential buyers to understand that they have no real assurance that they are getting what they think they are buying. Many drugs sold on the darknet are laced with fentanyl, which can be fatal for some buyers.
"There's a lot that is put into place that makes it appear to be legitimate."
Katie Brenden, analyst, Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team
“One of the things that makes a darknet marketplace so dangerous in the eyes of law enforcement is the fact that it's such an easy to use platform,” said Katie Brenden, an analyst on the JCODE team. “There's a lot that is put into place that makes it appear to be legitimate, when what's really happening is there are people in garages or basements that are using pill presses to make their own pills and sell them online across the country and sometimes across the world.”
One of the distributors in the L.A. case went by the name of JoyInc and is believed to have been operating since 2018. Officials called it one of the most prolific distributors of methamphetamine and cocaine to ever operate on the darknet.
“We're trying to keep people safe,” said Special Agent Pinder. “The FBI mission statement is to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution. And that's ultimately what JCODE is about. We have become very adept at identifying the individuals behind these marketplaces, no matter what role they're in, whether they're an administrator or a vendor, a money launderer, or indeed a buyer.”
