US and Europe Sweep Dark Web: 354 Arrested, $234M Seized

The U.S. Justice Department and Europol announced on Thursday that Operation TorNado resulted in 354 arrests and the confiscation of over $234 million in cash and digital currencies. The FBI described it as the biggest crackdown on dark web drug sellers and buyers to date.

The announcement came from the department’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, or JCODE, an FBI-led group formed in 2018. Officials stated that Operation TorNado marks the sixth and largest internationally coordinated action since then, building on last year’s Operation RapTor. The operation ran from May 2025 to October 2026.

Europol, which coordinated efforts with agencies across 14 countries, released a parallel statement on the same day. The operation targeted sellers and buyers active on five dark web markets previously taken down by law enforcement: Archetyp, Bohemia, Nemesis, Kingdom and Tor2Door. Authorities also identified accounts on DrugHub, as well as on forums, single-vendor shops and encrypted messaging services.

The seizures included roughly 5.7 metric tons of illegal drugs globally, among them fentanyl and other opioids, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and MDMA, plus 38 pill presses and 209 firearms. Neither the Justice Department nor Europol broke down the $234 million into cash and cryptocurrency, and neither named bitcoin or any other specific coin in the official totals.

Europol placed the European portion at more than €60 million in cash and cryptocurrencies, along with 950 kilograms of drugs and 57 firearms. The U.S. share was more than €150 million, or $166 million, in cash and cryptocurrencies, plus over 4.8 metric tons of drugs and 152 firearms. Those regional figures still combine cash and crypto. Europol said its forensic and blockchain analysis teams traced illicit transactions as part of the effort.

Individual cases point to Monero and bitcoin

The clearest official insight into how vendors were paid comes from cases highlighted by the Justice Department and from court documents posted with the announcement.

Alexander Green, 32, of Jacksonville, North Carolina, was arrested in June and charged in the Southern District of Ohio with conspiracy to distribute controlled substances, including fentanyl. The department said he allegedly operated a vendor called STARLABS on DrugHub, which it described as a Monero-only dark web market, and that the group has been linked to two overdose deaths. A criminal complaint says undercover purchases from STARLABS were made “in exchange for cryptocurrency.” If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison.

In a separate Florida arrest, brothers Stanislav Chernyshov, 30, and Vladislav Chernyshov, 35, are charged in the Eastern District of Virginia with conspiracy to distribute Schedule I synthetic opioids. Prosecutors say they allegedly ran the vendor “BarbaraWhite,” selling counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with nitazenes and shipping more than 1,000 parcels across 49 states. A search-warrant affidavit describes bitcoin transfers tied to that account and the Nemesis market. They each face up to 20 years if convicted.

132 arrests in the United States, and more work ahead

Operation TorNado resulted in 132 arrests in the United States, 59 in the United Kingdom, 45 in Hungary and 41 in Germany, along with arrests in France, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Slovenia, Austria, Ireland, Czechia, Australia and Finland. The department said a number of investigations remain ongoing to identify the people behind remaining dark web accounts.

FBI Director Kash Patel called Operation TorNado “the largest interagency takedown of Dark Web drug vendors and buyers to date.” IRS Criminal Investigation Chief Jarod Koopman, whose agency was part of the JCODE group, placed the financial aspect at the center: “Criminal networks may operate across borders and in the shadows of the Dark Web, but they cannot operate without money.”

Federal prosecutions are underway in more than 20 districts. An indictment or complaint only alleges that crimes were committed, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

What the announcement does not clarify is how much of the $234 million was cryptocurrency, and how much of that was bitcoin. Officials have not disclosed that. The record on Operation TorNado shows a combined cash-and-crypto seizure, a Monero-only market in at least one featured case, and bitcoin transfers in court papers, without a breakdown of the total.