Silk Road customers and vendors are sweating as eight “significant users” of the site (ie. those who boast lots of “Great communication, top Silk Road-er, 10/10, would buy from again”-style feedback) have been arrested in the UK, the US and Sweden, with Britain’s National Crime Agency suggesting more arrests are on the way.
The notorious “dark web” marketplace of illicit drugs, weapons, and other illegal business was shut down last week when founder and alleged mastermind Ross Ulbricht (AKA Dread Pirate Roberts) was arrested in San Francisco. Within a couple of days of Ulbricht’s arrest, police had nabbed three men in their 20’s from Manchester, one man in his 50’s from southwestern England, two from Seattle, Washington, and two men from the Swedish city of Helsingbog (Heisenberg????)
The National Crime Agency is confident that information gathered during these arrests will lead to the apprehension of more online criminals, warning that “The hidden Internet isn’t hidden and your anonymous activity isn’t anonymous… We know where you are, what you are doing and we will catch you.”
In related news, the value of BitCoins, the virtual currency used on the Silk Road plummeted shortly after the shutdown of the site, with analysts contributing the decline to a combination of criminals no longer having a use for the currency, as well as innocent people who use the currency for legitimate purposes selling off their Bitcoins to avoiding being branded as criminals. Either way, the value is dropping so you’d better get down to that pub in Sydney that accepts them quick smart.
Via ABC News
