Bitcoin Magazine

DOJ’s Operation TorNado Arrests 354 and Seizes $234 Million in Cash and Crypto
The Justice Department and Europol said Thursday that Operation TorNado has produced 354 arrests and the seizure of more than $234 million in cash and virtual currencies, in what the FBI called the largest takedown yet of dark web drug vendors and buyers.
The announcement came from the department’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, or JCODE, an FBI-led group created in 2018. Officials said Operation TorNado is the sixth, and most extensive, internationally coordinated action since then, and that it builds on last year’s Operation RapTor. The sweep ran from May 2025 to October 2026.
Europol, which coordinated work with agencies in 14 countries, published a parallel statement the same day. The operation targeted vendors and buyers who had been active on five dark web markets already seized by law enforcement: Archetyp, Bohemia, Nemesis, Kingdom and Tor2Door. Officials also identified accounts on DrugHub and on forums, single-vendor shops and encrypted messaging services.
The seizures included about 5.7 metric tons of illicit drugs worldwide, among them fentanyl and other opioids, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and MDMA, plus 38 pill presses and 209 firearms. Neither the Justice Department nor Europol split the $234 million between cash and cryptocurrency, and neither named bitcoin or any other coin in the official totals.
S. 8 metric tons of drugs and 152 firearms. Those regional money figures still combine cash and crypto. Europol said its forensic and blockchain analysis teams traced illicit transactions as part of the work.
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