Police in the Netherlands have announced the takedown of Bohemia and Cannabia, which has been described as the world’s largest and longest-running dark web marketplace for illegal goods, drugs and cybercriminal services.
The liquidation was the result of a joint investigation with Ireland, Great Britain and the United States that began in late 2022, Politie reported.
The market ceased operations at the end of 2023 following reports of service outages and exit fraud after one of the developers was allegedly duped into what was characterized by one of the administrators as a “shameful and unhappy set of events.”
Bohemia is said to serve 82,000 listings worldwide every day, with around 67,000 transactions taking place each month. Only in September 2023, the approximate turnover was 12 million euros.
“Some sellers on the market advertised shipping from the Netherlands,” writes Politie. said. “Initial analysis shows that at least 14,000 transactions originated from the Netherlands, with a value of at least €1.7 million.”
Politie said it was able to identify several administrators and arrest two suspects, one in the Netherlands and the other in Ireland. In addition, two vehicles and 8 million euros worth of cryptocurrency were confiscated.
“Operators, sellers and buyers of and in illegal markets often find themselves elusive to the police and the justice system,” said Stan Dyfe, head of operations for the National Investigation and Intervention Unit.
“After conducting criminal investigations and bringing these criminals to justice, it is clear that the dark web is not as anonymous as users may think. Thanks to international cooperation, the trust and reliability of these markets has been seriously damaged again.”
The development comes after Ukrainian authorities arrested a 28-year-old man on charges of running a virtual private network (VPN) that allowed people from the country to access the Russian Internet (aka Runet) in violation of sanctions.
The service, which had more than 48 million IP addresses, is believed to have been launched by an unnamed self-taught hacker from the city of Khmelnytskyi after the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Ukraine’s cyber police said access was facilitated by creating a stand-alone server room in his apartment with additional servers rented from Germany, France, the Netherlands and Russia.
“The man advertised his service in his own Telegram channels and thematic communities, as well as on a world-renowned IT resource, where he positioned himself as a project developer and found like-minded people,” the agency notes. said.
It also follows from sentencing two people associated with the Russian threat group called Armageddon (a.k.a. Gomaredon) to 15 years in prison in absentia for cyberattacks against state structures in the country, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reports.
Their identities have not been disclosed. However, it is possible that it is Sklyanko Alexander Mykolaevich and Chernykh Mykola Sergiyevich, who were previously sanctioned European Council.
