Italy Continues To Raid the Darknet Marketplace to Fish out The Illegal Traders

The continuous growth of Drug trafficking on the Darknet in Italy has called for an investigation into this hidden part of the internet. Italy has been categorized as part of the criminal networks. In April this year, a raid on the Darknet saw the Flying squad of the police headquarters in Lecco, arresting five people and seizing a bunch of drugs. The Leco police have engaged in many criminal studies for years.

The raid was launched across Italy and in 17 provinces, aimed to put a stop to the drug smuggling over the Darknet marketplaces. Some of these provinces include Perugia Pesaro, Urbino, Power, Rimini, Salerno, Siena, Sondrio, Trieste, Udine, Venice, Verona, and few others.

The Central Operational Service and Lecco Police some time ago started this online investigation. This was part of the International Drug Investigation. A research shows that a 50 raid conducted closed down the Italian Darknet Community. The Italian Darknet community was a forum which also encouraged selling of illegal drugs. It encouraged the operation of child pornography, terrorism, and pedophile.

In 2016, a drug vendor and the forum user fell in the hands of authority during this operation. The Italian Law Enforcement described him as the “one of the largest Italian darknet vendors and one of the reference points for the online trafficking of drugs in Italy.”

The recent raid of the Darknet by the investigators led to the arrest of a young class TD 1998 in Paterno. According to reports, he was in the possession of hashish and marijuana. A further investigation revealed a cultivation of marijuana plants near his house.

Despite the arrest of the members of the Italian mafia Brussels, Darknet operation of illegal services and goods in Italy seem not to be reducing.

A research from the National Drug and Alcohol Research Center at UNSW Australia confirmed that: “despite all of the disruptions from law enforcement efforts and takedown that have been successful, as well as the exit scams and all of this kind of thing, people are still using these sites to access drugs.”

According to authorities, the raid enhances a direct access to the online drug dealers: “This additional step – emphasized by the Police of Lecco – highlights and confirms the spread of online sales phenomenon of drugs, particularly in the darknet for its facility in knots. It allows you to take direct contacts, anonymous and without intermediaries with drug dealers drug and arms trafficking or other illegal goods. ”

The recent raid is not the first of its kind as a similar raid occurred in 2014. The Europol and the US law enforcement shut down many illegal Darknet marketplaces on the internet. The raid which included the Italian based Darknet websites targeted about 414 websites shut down, and the arrest of 17 individuals.

The head of Europol’s European cybercrime center, Troels Oerting, concerning the 2014 raid disclosed the target of their operation which is suspected to have influenced the recent Italy raid. Oerting said, “Today we have demonstrated that, together, we are able to efficiently remove vital criminal infrastructures that are supporting serious organized crime.” He added that “and we are not ‘just’ removing these services from the open internet; this time we have also hit services on the darknet using Tor where, for a long time, criminals have considered themselves beyond reach.”

Authorities in Italy are serious about eliminating Darknet operators since the harm involved does not only stay on the Darknet but also, it comes with various diseases to the users. Between 2012 and 2014, a total of 886 cases of the human immunodeficiency virus were recorded among users of drug injection.

The recent action against crimes on the Darknet seems to be severe, and the actions have borne results as some Darknet operators have been fished out.

The Darknet marketplace has generated a lot of interest in all over the globe, due to how easy it is to access anything deemed illegal, and difficult to obtain on the street. Mr. Oerting said that “The scope is basically everything is for sale, everything that is stolen. You might even buy a stolen car. But in general, they were selling anything you would want to send with a normal mailman, the fastest business mode.”

This raid conducted by the flying squad of the police headquarters in Lecco will tend to achieve its goals and reduce the greater access of the Darknet among the Italians.