CANBERA (dpa-AFX) - An international operation targeting dark web drug traffickers resulted in 354 arrests and the seizure of more than 5.7 metric tons of illicit drugs, more than $234 million in cryptocurrency and cash, and 209 firearms.
Operation TorNado included the FBI and JCODE partner agencies in the United States, in addition to law enforcement partners from 13 countries spanning across Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
Conducted from May 2025 through October 2026, the operation targeted drug vendors, buyers, and trafficking networks operating on dark web markets. Although hundreds of suspects have been arrested, investigations remain underway in several countries to identify additional individuals operating behind anonymous online accounts, FBI said in a press release.
'Operation TorNado confronted one of the most urgent public safety threats of our time - the trafficking of fentanyl and other deadly drugs through the dark web,' said FBI Deputy Director Christopher Raia during a press conference on Thursday. 'For over a year, our teams, in conjunction with the Homeland Security Task Forces around the U.S., worked across jurisdictions, across borders, and across time zones to identify and dismantle criminal networks operating in the shadows of the internet.'
Operation TorNado is the sixth major international enforcement action by the FBI's Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, known as JCODE.
Among the investigations conducted during the operation in the United States, U.S. Postal Inspectors, DEA, the Department of Homeland Security's Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and local partners identified a California-based dark web vendor known as 'SpeedyPharma' who allegedly shipped methamphetamine and other drugs nationwide. Investigators subsequently seized approximately 283 parcels believed to contain drugs.
A joint investigation involving Australian authorities and HSI began after suspicious drug imports were detected in the United States. Authorities intercepted approximately 35,000 LSD tabs in the mail and later seized roughly 750,000 tabs, 60 grams of LSD crystal, other drugs, cash, and cryptocurrency. Two people were arrested and charged in Australia. Australian authorities described the seizure as the largest of its kind in Victoria's history.
In the United States, Operation TorNado resulted in 132 arrests and the seizure of approximately 4.8 metric tons of illicit drugs, more than $166 million in cryptocurrency and cash, 152 firearms and 38 pill presses. More than 354 kilograms of the drugs seized consisted of fentanyl and/or fentanyl-laced pills.
Additionally, international authorities reported two arrests in Australia, six in Austria, four in the the Czech Republic, one in Finland, 23 in France, 41 in Germany, four in Hungary, five in Ireland, 12 in the the Netherlands, 13 in New Zealand, 11 in Slovenia and 59 arrests in the United Kingdom.
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