Finnish authorities, together with the Swedish police and Europol, with the support of Bitdefender, seized the darknet drug market “Sipulitie Market”

The dark web drug trading market "Sipultie Market" has been shut down by an international joint law enforcement operation, which facilitated the sale and purchase of illegal drugs by anonymous users. "ODN" has learned that this seizure was the result of cooperation between Finnish Customs, Europol, the Swedish Police, Polish law enforcement, and cybersecurity researchers from the company Bitdefender.

Law enforcement agencies have confirmed that the network servers of "Sipultie Market" were seized, and the Tor website (http://onionxsyeiqfjqrksdmaycpuh5cuc43gsx3wnw5dto7qgdp5udabroad.onion) has been marked with seizure information, with investigations still ongoing.

Finnish Customs (locally known as Tulli) has taken over the servers of "Sipultie Market" and confiscated their contents, also announcing: "During the investigation, the identities of the administrators of Sipultie, Sipulimarket, and Tsätti have been discovered."

"Sipultie Market" meaning "Onion Road", has been operational since February 2023 and has been causing waves in the dark web community by being used for "criminal activities" like the anonymous purchase of drugs. This dark web market catered to both Finnish and English-speaking users, primarily targeting Finnish users, and stood out in the dark web with its robust security measures and user-friendly interface.

"Sipultie Market" was established after its predecessor, "Sipulimarket", was shut down by the police in December 2020. "Sipulimarket" began operating in April 2019 and was closed down by Finnish Customs in collaboration with Polish authorities. At the time of its closure by the police, "Sipulimarket" had made over two million euros. Finnish authorities believe that both markets were managed by the same administrator. Finnish Customs claimed that drug lords do not pause between shutting down one dark web market and opening another.

Moreover, from 2022 until recently, the same administrator also operated a separate chat platform on the dark web called Tsätti, dedicated to drug sales, which has also now been shut down.

Finnish authorities closed "Sipultie Market" and the Tsätti site, placing seizure banners on the websites to inform visitors of the enforcement action.

While Finnish authorities did not reveal who is behind these dark web markets, they claimed that this raid has exposed the identities of those involved in drug trafficking, and investigators have asserted that they have identified the website administrators, moderators, suppliers, and consumers. Typically, after seizing the servers of "Sipultie Market", the identities of server administrators, market operators, customer service staff, as well as sellers and buyers, can be identified.

Although there are no authoritative figures on Sipultie Market's revenue, the administrator himself boasted on the dark web that the market had generated approximately 1.3 million euros (1.4 million dollars) in income.

Hannu Sinkkonen, the director of enforcement at Finnish Customs, stated in a press release that international cooperation was key to the success of this operation. "Finnish Customs has effectively intervened in criminal activities taking place on the dark web using various different methods. Seamless cooperation between authorities at both the national and international level is a crucial factor in combating cybercrime," Sinkkonen said.

While this dark web market did not have the status of "Silk Road," it could still deal a significant blow to the dark web drug market—and it's not the only market recently shut down. "ODN" has reported on numerous dark web markets closed by law enforcement. In 2022, the world's largest dark web market, Hydra Market, was shut down by German law enforcement.

Hydra Market had over 17 million customers worldwide and a turnover exceeding $1.35 billion in 2020 alone, so its closure likely caused panic among dark web users and somewhat diversified the dark web market landscape.

However, law enforcement investigations and operations continue. In March 2024, German police seized the infrastructure of the dark web market "Nemesis Market", which had been facilitating drug sales since 2021.

In May 2024, the suspected owner and operator of "Incognito Market" was arrested in New York, estimated to have sold drugs worth over $100 million.

Earlier this month, Dutch police arrested the administrator of the dark web drug market "Bohemia/Cannabia Market," which at its peak in September 2023, generated revenue of over 12 million euros ($13.1 million).