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Feds Take Down Website Selling Illegal Drugs
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) temporarily shut down “Silk Road,” an underground website sometimes called the “Amazon.com of illegal drugs” or the “eBay for drugs.” The black market site used encryption software called Tor which allowed purchasers to remain anonymous.
In March 2013, the site reported having 10,000 products for sale by vendors, 70% of which were illicit drugs including heroin and other opioids, cocaine, LSD and cannabis. The website, operating since February 2011, was reported to have had anonymous purchases totaling more than $30 million per year.
On October 2, 2013, Ross William Ulbricht, the alleged owner of Silk Road, was arrested by the FBI in San Francisco on suspicion of drug trafficking, soliciting murder, facilitating computer hacking and money laundering.
Another version of Silk Road has since opened in the original site’s place.
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