Over the past few weeks, LiveBitcoinNews has been actively covering various darknet arrests in Germany and other countries. New research shows how darknet crime in Germany is a big issue. More importantly, close to 600 individuals are under active investigation for the deep web involvement. These details came to light thanks to an undisclosed source with intimate knowledge of these investigations.
Germany Continues Its Witch Hunt Against The Deep Web
While it is true there is a lot of criminal activity taking place on the darknet; not everything is as bad as people may think. In Germany, a total of 600 investigations is related to the darknet, which only represents a minority of the people using these underground marketplaces. Then again, that does not mean illegal activity should be ignored by any means.
What is rather interesting is how not all of these people under investigation are residents of Germany. Most of them are, but the law enforcement officials are also looking into buyers and sellers active on German marketplaces as a foreigner. This still makes them German police’s responsibility to pursue, even though they can collaborate with other EU-based agencies on these cases.
Weapon vendors are a primary target for German authorities. Ever since the Munich shooting, officials have been on high alert when it comes to buying or selling weapons on the deep web. Most of the 2016 arrests are all related to firearms in some capacity, closely followed by drug-related activity. No details were revealed as to how often Bitcoin is involved in these transactions, though.
One thing is certain: darknet criminal activity is far too complex to be handled by one country. This is part of the reason why EU-supported projects were created, allowing for more flexible collaboration between various countries. Moreover, since there appears to a growing number of terrorist activity on the deep web, these investigations will only become more important over time.
Germany is leading the charge when it comes to cracking down on illegal online activity. It would be good to see other countries take the deep web threat as seriously. Since both buyers and sellers are targeted by these investigations, it is evident no one is truly anonymous on the deep web. Users who have nothing to hide may still be monitored by law enforcement agencies, though.
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