The Netherlands cops have arrested DutchMasters dark web vendor shop’s alleged operators. The darknet markets and forums’ users may have definitely come across this vendor shop renowned for ecstasy. Aside from having their own vendor shop, DutchMasters exists on several deep web marketplaces. All of these are accessible through the Tor browser.
A published press release states that the law enforcement officials had claimed the arrest to have damaged these webshops’ reliability and credibility. It had also highlighted that the DutchMasters profile was on the WallStreet Market, which was one of the mainstream marketplaces at that time when it was taken down (excluded are some of the other giant Russian markets). In May 2019, the Netherlands prosecutors had started to investigate the DutchMasters, and in the same month, they had arrested the suspected administrators of the vendor shop.
The announcement mentions that via drug sales using the DutchMasters profile, the six alleged suspects had grossed about tens of millions of Euros. The investigation primarily focused on four things while the cops were looking into the vendor account and its operators:
- Identifying all of them who were responsible for operating the profiles.
- Destroying the infrastructure that the darknet vendor shop used to reach the international buyers.
- Removing DutchMaster’s existence from the internet; and
- Seizing the profits acquired from the dark web drug trafficking operation.
The arrested suspects are a combination of men and women Amsterdam, Assendelft and Diemen. The law enforcement authorities have identified the roles of two suspects in the case publicly. One of the two used to moderate the DutchMasters accounts while the other suspect worked as a package courier. When the raids were conducted at night, the law enforcement had seized jewelry, cash bundles, electronic devices, a Porsche, drugs and drug-producing equipment.
The governmental authorities believed that the DutchMasters had an immense impact on the ecstasy trade directly outside the reach of their vendor accounts or the stores. The other investigations involved the ecstasy seizure or the equipment that was utilized for ecstasy production. Both of these similarly influenced the DutchMaster’s supply chain.
For example, following the raid in a Netherlands-based MDMA manufacturing lab back in September 2020, the law enforcement found that DutchMasters had ceased the sale of ecstasy. At the same time, two consecutive drug raids in the Netherlands had apparently impacted the vendor’s immediate supply.
The Politie had put out a message to the users of the darknet drug markets that read:
“Sellers, buyers, and also managers of illegal webshops often feel anonymous and elusive to the police […]. By conducting investigations into these criminals, it becomes clear that the darknet is not at all as anonymous as users may think.”
Currently, the DutchMasters vendor shop, as well as the forum, are running online without the seizure banners.
Source: DarknetLive
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