{"id":98226,"date":"2023-06-27T08:16:52","date_gmt":"2023-06-27T05:16:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/?p=98226"},"modified":"2023-06-27T08:16:52","modified_gmt":"2023-06-27T05:16:52","slug":"on-this-international-day-against-drug-abuse-and-illicit-trafficking-the-fbi-reaffirms-our-commitment-to-helping-remove-tens-of-thousands-of-potentially-lethal-drugs-from-circulation-read-about-the","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/?p=98226","title":{"rendered":"On this International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, the #FBI reaffirms our commitment to helping remove tens of thousands of potentially lethal drugs from circulation. Read about the Bureau&#8217;s recent efforts to target darknet drug markets:"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">New York &#8211; Rashad Alkhader &#8211; Free Yemen Eye &#8211; &#8211; From &#8211; News &#8211; FBI<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Sweep Targets Darknet Markets<br \/>\nOperation SpecTor spanned three continents, seized millions of dollars, and removed tens of thousands of potentially lethal drugs from circulation<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">A massive coordinated operation spanning nine countries and dozens of law enforcement agencies across the United States, Europe, and South America targeting darknet drug markets culminated recently with seizures of more than $50 million in cash and virtual currency, 1,875 pounds of potentially lethal pills and other drugs, and 288 arrests.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Operation SpecTor uncovered vast networks of manufacturers, online supply chains, buyers, re-sellers, and users, revealing that the darknet\u2014a part of the internet accessible through an encrypted browser\u2014provides only a veneer of anonymity. The drug seizures included about 152 pounds of fentanyl, a synthetic opioid so dangerous that two milligrams\u2014like a few grains of salt\u2014is a potentially lethal dose.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">&#8220;The availability of dangerous substances like fentanyl on darknet marketplaces is helping to fuel the crisis that has claimed far too many American lives, \u201c FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement. &#8220;That&#8217;s why we will continue to join forces with our law enforcement partners around the globe to attack this problem together.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Operation SpecTor Targets Darknet Markets\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/nN1GENQBK34?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\nThe operation began in late 2021. The Joint Criminal and Opioid Darknet Enforcement (JCODE) team, which the Department of Justice created in 2018, led the effort. The team coordinates complex, multi-agency investigations into virtual marketplaces selling dangerous and illegal drugs around the globe. The FBI was among 12 U.S. agencies working with local partners in the operation.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Overseas, the Bureau worked closely with authorities in Brazil and Europol (which provides investigative support to European law enforcement agencies) to conduct 135 arrests and seize more than $38 million.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cThese darknet marketplaces and vendors are not limited by geographical boundaries, requiring us to work closely with our international partners,\u201d said Kristen Varel, a supervisory special agent in the FBI\u2019s High Tech Organized Crime Unit, which coordinates the JCODE operations. \u201cWe focus on those vendors operating on U.S. soil, but we also investigate the marketplace infrastructure, which is frequently located overseas, often in European countries.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-98228 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/3A4554C8-92BD-4A5F-8543-2A5E012753EA-215x300.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"215\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/3A4554C8-92BD-4A5F-8543-2A5E012753EA-215x300.jpeg 215w, https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/3A4554C8-92BD-4A5F-8543-2A5E012753EA-735x1024.jpeg 735w, https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/3A4554C8-92BD-4A5F-8543-2A5E012753EA-768x1071.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/3A4554C8-92BD-4A5F-8543-2A5E012753EA-1102x1536.jpeg 1102w, https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/3A4554C8-92BD-4A5F-8543-2A5E012753EA.jpeg 1185w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 215px) 100vw, 215px\" \/><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_98229\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-98229\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-98229 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/B75579D5-FAC4-4CE0-8D2F-056B6F4EA66C-300x217.jpeg\" alt=\"In one operation in the U.S. last fall, investigators found six pill presses; 10 weapons; bundles of cash; and approximately 450 pounds of illegal drugs, which included thousands of pills, powdered fentanyl, marijuana, mushrooms, heroin, and other substances in a California basement.The basement had to be sealed off and processed by the Drug Enforcement Administration's Clandestine Laboratory Team.\n\" width=\"300\" height=\"217\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/B75579D5-FAC4-4CE0-8D2F-056B6F4EA66C-300x217.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/B75579D5-FAC4-4CE0-8D2F-056B6F4EA66C-1024x740.jpeg 1024w, https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/B75579D5-FAC4-4CE0-8D2F-056B6F4EA66C-768x555.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/B75579D5-FAC4-4CE0-8D2F-056B6F4EA66C.jpeg 1195w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-98229\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">In one operation in the U.S. last fall, investigators found six pill presses; 10 weapons; bundles of cash; and approximately 450 pounds of illegal drugs, which included thousands of pills, powdered fentanyl, marijuana, mushrooms, heroin, and other substances in a California basement. The basement had to be sealed off and processed by the Drug Enforcement Administration&#8217;s Clandestine Laboratory Team.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\nHere in the U.S., the FBI partners with federal agencies with expertise in every facet of the drug pipeline, from pill presses and social media posts to packages in the mail. That includes the Drug Enforcement Administration, Homeland Security Investigations, the Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Postal Inspection Service, which is the law enforcement arm of the U.S. Postal Service.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cJCODE would not be successful without the partnerships,\u201d Varel said. \u201cEverything hits on multiple locations. We have shipments going back and forth between states and even countries. And so it\u2019s key that we all work together on this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Law enforcement conducted more seizures\u2014including 117 firearms\u2014during Operation SpecTor than any prior operation. The number of arrests, including 153 in the U.S., are the most ever for any JCODE operation.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_98230\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-98230\" style=\"width: 225px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-98230 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/24848754-2FB9-4A47-9963-8935E4B9C3C6-225x300.jpeg\" alt=\"A pill press found during a JCODE operation in Louisiana in 2020 illustrates the dirty conditions of some operations.\" width=\"225\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/24848754-2FB9-4A47-9963-8935E4B9C3C6-225x300.jpeg 225w, https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/24848754-2FB9-4A47-9963-8935E4B9C3C6-768x1024.jpeg 768w, https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/24848754-2FB9-4A47-9963-8935E4B9C3C6-1152x1536.jpeg 1152w, https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/24848754-2FB9-4A47-9963-8935E4B9C3C6.jpeg 1156w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-98230\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A pill press found during a JCODE operation in Louisiana in 2020 illustrates the dirty conditions of some operations.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New York &#8211; Rashad Alkhader &#8211; Free Yemen Eye &#8211; &#8211; From &#8211; News &#8211; FBI Sweep Targets Darknet Markets Operation SpecTor spanned three continents, seized millions of dollars, and removed tens of thousands of potentially lethal drugs from circulation A massive coordinated operation spanning nine countries and dozens of law enforcement agencies across the &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":98227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diverse-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=98226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/98227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=98226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=98226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fye-yemen.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=98226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}