The U.S. Department of Justice is scrutinizing sellers on underground online marketplaces, and on Thursday said federal agents had arrested one person for alleged illegal weapons sale on underground market "Black Market Reloaded" in an elaborate sting operation.
U.S. officials shut down about a month ago the "Silk Road," an underground market which was accessible only through the Tor anonymity service and used the anonymous bitcoin virtual currency to keep the identity of sellers and buyers private. Silk Road is alleged to have been a thriving market for drugs and other illegal products and services, including fake passports. The National Crime Agency in the U.K. also arrested in October some persons suspected of selling illegal drugs on Silk Road.
The sting
On Wednesday, Silk Road was revived by a person styling himself as Dread Pirate Roberts, the handle linked to Ross William Ulbricht who is charged by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation with owning and running the original Silk Road.
The government is also going after illegal sellers on the marketplaces. "Online black market sellers should take note: we aren't just targeting the administrators of these sites, which can pop up again elsewhere," Paul J. Fishman, U.S. attorney for New Jersey district, said in a statement. "If you buy or sell illegal goods on an underground marketplace, law enforcement is watching."
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