Norway Authorities Nab 15 Drug Dealers In Silk Road ‘2.0’ Operation
Norway police made their largest drug bust ever last month when they arrested 15 people selling drugs on what they claim is the second version of the notorious Silk Road online marketplace that the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation closed in 2013, according to the The Local Europe AB, a Swedish news source. Kripos, Norway’s National Criminal Investigation Service, launched Operation Marco Polo, the nation’s largest operation against organized drug crime, on the dark web. Verdens Gang, an Oslo, Norway newspaper reported this week that the sting resulted in the arrested of 15 people,....
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Two years after the FBI shut down Silk Road, online drug markets are alive and growing, thanks to the Tor browser and virtual currency, reports US News & World Report. Darknet markets offer greater product reliability and less risk of violence than physical encounters with drug dealers. Darknets average $300,000 to $500,000 in sales per day according to one study. Johns Hopkins University computer science professor Matthew Green says Silk Road provided a proof of concept for darknet markets. He says it's an idea that someone doesn't think about until it happens. Some Silk Road successors....
Federal prosecutors say details about the second arrest of Shaun Bridges, a former U.S. Secret Service agent charged with stealing in the Silk Road investigation, must remain sealed, in part, because they believe there are one or more co-conspirators, according to a filing in the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland. Authorities charged Bridges and former DEA agent Carl Force with stealing from Silk Road during the investigation following the trial and conviction of Ross Ulbricht, the mastermind of the online drug marketplace who went by the name, “Dread Pirate Roberts.”....
A new study argues that online black marketplaces, such as the infamous Silk Road, can actually reduce the number of drug related-violent crimes. The researchers' argument is simple: online drug traffickers act more like wholesalers, and since online markets limit the scope of direct interaction between the traffickers - blurring or removing territorial boundaries, there is less of a chance for violent confrontation. The research was conducted by University of Lausanne criminologist David Décary-Hétu and University of Manchester law professor Judith Aldridge. Entitled "Not an 'Ebay for....