The Justice Department and Europol on Thursday announced the arrest of 354 people worldwide in an international operation targeting dark web drug trafficking.
The effort, known as Operation TorNado, spanned from May 2025 to October 2026. The department said it aimed to disrupt criminal networks that use online markets to sell fentanyl, opioids, and other illegal drugs.
During the operation, law enforcement seized over $234 million in cash and virtual currencies. Authorities also recovered about 5.7 metric tons of illicit drugs, 38 pill presses, and 209 firearms. The seized narcotics included fentanyl, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, and MDMA.
The arrests included 132 individuals in the United States, 59 in the United Kingdom, 45 in Hungary, and 41 in Germany. Additional arrests took place in France, New Zealand, the Netherlands, and other countries. The operation targeted buyers and vendors on dark web platforms such as Archetyp, Bohemia, Nemesis, Kingdom, and Tor2Door.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the effort was the largest interagency takedown of dark web drug vendors to date.
The operation resulted in dozens of federal prosecutions across the United States. In Florida, brothers Stanislav and Vladislav Chernyshov were arrested and charged with conspiracy to distribute synthetic opioids. The department said they operated a vendor account that sold counterfeit pills laced with nitazenes, which are highly potent synthetic opioids.
In another case, Alexander Green was arrested in June and charged with drug distribution offenses in the Southern District of Ohio. The department said his vendor account on the Drughub market was linked to two overdose deaths.
Charges are allegations, and defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty.