Illicit ‘Wall Street Market’ shut down

The joint effort of Europol, Dutch police and the Federal Bureau Investigation (FBI) led to the arrest and shutting down of one of the largest illegal online markets in the world, Wall Street Market (WSM), the prosecutors said.

Three men who allegedly run and operate the so-called dark web were arrested by the German police. According to the investigation, WSM is a site where trades of various illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, cannabis and amphetamines happen.

Millions worth of cash, cryptocurrencies, and other assets were seized following the police operation.

The dark web was operating behind the “Tor” network — a website dedicated to publishing content related to science fiction, fiction and fantasy. Its goal is to “provoke, encourage and enable interesting conversation between readers and page visitors.”

Three men accused of operating the web are all German nationals identified as Tibo Lousee, Jonathan Kalla and Klaus-Martin Frost. A few number of sellers on the dark web have also been charged including a vendor that sold meth in kilograms through the platform.

The investigation, which started back in 2017, was indefinitely halted due to the apparent “exit scam” of the WSM’s operators. The alleged “exit scam” was confirmed after the sudden removal of all cryptocurrencies held in escrow or the use of third party to manage and hold funds.

The digital assets held in escrow is estimated to reach up to $11 million in value.