Security News > 2023 > May > 288 arrested in multinational Monopoly Market takedown

In an international operation 288 people have been arrested across the US, Europe and South America after allegedly selling opioids on the now-shuttered Monopoly Market dark web drug trafficking marketplace, according to US and European law enforcement.

German authorities originally seized the cybercrime marketplace's infrastructure in December 2021, although law enforcement didn't announce the takedown at the time.

US law enforcement, in addition to arresting 153 suspects, seized 104 illegal guns and more than 200,000 pills, some of which contained fentanyl, according to the Justice Department.

On December 1, 2022, Peck was sentenced to 16 years in prison for conspiring to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances, including fentanyl, methamphetamine, and heroin.

On November 18 a federal grand jury charged Christopher Hampton, 36, of Cerritos, California, with heading an organization that obtained bulk fentanyl, operated labs in California that used high-speed presses to create fake pills containing fentanyl and methamphetamine, and sold millions of these to thousands of customers online.

Another federal grand jury indictment on May 12 charged Holly Adams, 31, and Devlin Hosner, 33, of Indio, California, with conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute fentanyl and methamphetamine, and with conspiracy to launder money.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2023/05/02/monopoly_market_arrests/