Justice Ministry closes dark drug directory on the Web and arresting suspected homeowners

May 8, 2019, 20:04 UTC

By Tom Winter and Adiel Kaplan

The Department of Justice has closed an important directory of drug markets on the Web and arrested the alleged owners in what federal prosecutors consider a unique operation.

"This is the biggest disruption of the Darknet network related to law enforcement so far," US Attorney Scott Brady said at a press conference in Pittsburgh on Wednesday to announce the charges and close the deal. DeepDotWeb site.

The darknet or dark web is a part of the Internet accessible only by specialized software or hardware and contains clandestine websites not found in the usual search engines. DeepDotWeb was a regular searchable website that provided a directory with direct access to a multitude of dark markets for the sale of illegal narcotics, including fentanyl, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

The website also provided access to firearms markets, including assault rifles, malware and hacking tools.

The alleged owners, Tal Prihar, 37, and Michael Phan, 34, from Israel, were arrested on Monday in Prihar, France, and in Phan, Israel, where they are still in detention. They each face a single head of money laundering conspiracy in the United States. Phan is also facing charges in Israel.

Prihar and Phan allegedly received bribes via bitcoin when a person allegedly bought an article on the darknet sites found in the directory, reporting over $ 15 million in fees since October 2013, according to the reports. prosecutors.

These "sponsorship bonuses" would come from darknet markets, including AlphaBay Market, Agora Market, Abraxas Market, Dream Market, Valhalla Market, Hansa Market, TradeRoute Market, Dr. D, Wall Street Market and Tochka Market.

Closing a directory like DeepDotWeb is important, said Brady, as it should be enough to block hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal purchases.

The government has already closed important drug markets for dark networks, but they have quickly been replaced by new ones. In July 2017, US federal authorities closed the AlphaBay and Hansa drug markets. But a few days later, another darknet market had already resumed most of the announcements, highlighting the challenge that the authorities must meet. Directories are the means by which many customers find darknet markets, and closing a major directory was a first for the Department of Justice.

"This lawsuit is the first to tackle Darknet's supporting infrastructure," said Brady.