DOJ and Europol Arrest 354 Suspects in Dark Web Crackdown

International law enforcement arrested 354 suspects in Operation TorNado, which the FBI described as its largest interagency crackdown on dark-web drug vendors and buyers to date. The operation, led by the US Department of Justice and Europol, ran from May 2025 to October 2026 and targeted sellers linked to markets including Archetyp, Bohemia, Nemesis, Kingdom, Tor2Door and DrugHub.

Authorities reported 132 arrests in the United States, 59 in the United Kingdom, 45 in Hungary, 41 in Germany and 23 in France, with others across eight more countries. They seized more than $234 million in cash and virtual currencies, 5.7 metric tonnes of drugs, 209 firearms and 38 pill presses.

Investigators used forensic data from previous market seizures and financial tracing by IRS Criminal Investigation to link vendor aliases to suspects. In Florida, brothers Stanislav and Vladislav Chernyshov were arrested on suspicion of running the “BarbaraWhite” account, which authorities say shipped more than 1,000 parcels of nitazene-laced counterfeit pills to 49 US states. Prosecutors charged Alexander Green in Ohio with allegedly operating the “STARLABS” account on DrugHub.

Other arrests included suspected vendors in California, Georgia and Florida, and five people accused of belonging to a New York and New Jersey distribution cell.

Prosecutors linked counterfeit pills sold by some of the vendors to fatal and non-fatal overdoses across the United States. The authorities’ claims include allegations against suspects; the supplied information does not state that those arrested have been convicted.