Two Israelis have been detained on suspicion of helping run a “dark” Internet website that was employed to facilitate the purchase of weapons, drugs and stolen credit cards, the Israeli regime’s police say.
“The suspects were arrested after setting up an Internet site that was in the ‘dark’,” said the Israeli police in a statement on Tuesday, adding, “The dark internet site was used for illegal activities and crimes.”
The statement did not reveal the identification of the suspects, but noted that police forces had arrested a 35-year-old resident of Tel Aviv and a 34-year-old resident of Ashdod on Monday.
The arrests were part of a larger operation against the so-called dark web by FBI investigators, who are working with the Israeli regime and multiple countries. The dark web is composed of a series of websites on an encrypted network that cannot be found by using traditional search engines.
According to the statement, the suspected website is known as the Deepdotweb and several other individuals accused of managing it have already been arrested in France, Germany, the Netherlands, and Brazil.
The website used to refer users to dark net sites where they could buy weaponry, drugs, stolen credit card information and more, police added.
The administrators of the Deepdotweb are believed to have made millions of dollars in commission through their referrals.
“The sites worked together covering each other and marketing illegal actions and transactions,” police further said, adding that the transactions were made using Bitcoin.
The dark net sites have been the focus of a series of recent police operations across the globe.
The statement noted that the two Israeli suspects were due to appear before a Tel Aviv court, but provided no further details.
Back in December last year, Colombian police arrested six Israelis accused of running a sex ring that exploited underage girls and forced them to have sex with Israeli tourists in the Latin American country.