FBI arrests alleged administrator of Silk Road 2.0

The FBI has arrested a 26-year-old man in San Francisco who is suspected of being the operator of Silk Road 2.0, a marketplace that mainly trades drugs. Europol is also said to be hunting drug criminals who operate via the Tor network in ‘Operation Onymous’.

According to The FBI has taken over the suspect, 26-year-old Blake Benthall, from former Silk Road administrator Ross William Ulbricht after Ulbricht was arrested in October 2013. Benthall is said to have operated the Silk Road 2.0 site under the alias Defcon. The ‘relaunch’ of the original Silk Road website, which could only be accessed via the Tor network, has been up and running for exactly a year.

Benthall is charged with a variety of crimes, including drug trafficking, hacking, illegal dealing in identity papers and money laundering. The website of Silk Road 2.0 now contains an announcement from American investigative authorities that the illegal marketplace has been taken offline.

In addition to the FBI’s arrest in the US, Europol is also said to be tackling dealers and other criminals who trade drugs via the Tor network. In an operation codenamed Onymous, two drug traffickers are said to have been arrested in Ireland, among other places. In December, two forum moderators were arrested in Ireland for allegedly being involved in Silk Road 2.0.