Dutch Police Take Hidden Marketplace 'Utopia' Offline
The Dutch police have arrested four men who are suspected of involvement in the hidden marketplace Utopia. The police have taken the site offline and confiscated the server.
The four men are suspected of drug trafficking, possession of weapons and hiring a contract killer.
The police not only confisated the server but also seized 900 bitcoins, representing a value between 300,000 and 500,000 dollar depending on the mood of the bitcoin market. In addition, hard drives, USB sticks and local computers were confiscated.
The black market Utopia that was used for the trade of drugs, was only accessible through the anonymizing TOR network. TOR can be used to create secure anonymous connections to the internet but it is also possible to set up a site which is only accessible through the TOR network, which is what Utopia did.
It now appears, that the police could track the people behind the market place through undercover investigations. The undercover agents bought ecstasy pills, MDMA and cocaine. In addition, the agents were requested to "bring someone to the other world.". The undercover agents had actual meetings with the people who were arrested.
Last October, the major black market trading site The Silk Road was taken offline by law enforcement. After the demise of Silk Road other sites are trying to take fill the gap, at this time Silk Road 2.0 is still online.
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