THE HAGUE — Police in 14 countries have arrested 354 people and seized more than $234 million in cash and cryptocurrency in the largest coordinated takedown of dark-web drug traffickers ever carried out, U.S. and European officials announced Thursday.
The operation, codenamed TorNado, ran from May 2025 to October 2026 and targeted vendors and buyers on five dark-web marketplaces — Archetyp, Bohemia, Nemesis, Kingdom and Tor2Door — that had already been seized by law enforcement. It was coordinated by Europol, the European Union’s police agency, together with the U.S. Justice Department’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, known as JCODE.
Officers seized about 5.7 metric tons of illegal drugs worldwide, including fentanyl and other opioids, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine, ecstasy and MDMA, along with 209 firearms and 38 pill presses. “Operation TorNado is the largest interagency takedown of Dark Web drug vendors and buyers to date, resulting in 354 arrests worldwide, including 132 in the United States,” FBI Director Kash Patel said.
Most of the arrests came in the United States (132), followed by Britain (59), Hungary (45), Germany (41) and France (23). Smaller numbers were arrested in the Netherlands, Slovenia, Ireland, Austria, Czechia, Finland, Australia and New Zealand.
In Europe, authorities seized more than 60 million euros in cash and cryptocurrency, about 950 kilograms of drugs and 57 firearms. In the United States, the haul was more than 150 million euros — about $166 million — in cash and cryptocurrency, plus more than 4.8 metric tons of drugs and 152 firearms.
“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,” FBI Deputy Director Christopher Raia said. Europol said the operation “highlighted the evolving resilience of dark web marketplaces, which continue to adapt despite takedowns.”
The sweep is the sixth — and most extensive — internationally coordinated action since JCODE was created in 2018, building on last year’s Operation RapTor. Officials said a number of investigations are still open and more people behind dark-web accounts are being identified.
