Germany arrests suspected admin of country’s largest criminal marketplace

German police said they have shut down the servers and arrested one of the administrators of the country’s largest German-speaking online marketplace for illegal goods and services, including stolen data, drugs and forged documents.

Police said the operation on Monday seized expensive vehicles and around €1 million worth of digital assets from the alleged operator of the criminal trading platform called Crimenetwork.

A 29-year-old suspect is believed to be the technical administrator of the platform, according to a statement from the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). He is also suspected of drug trafficking and is currently being held in custody.

Crimenetwork has been operating since 2012 and primarily targeted German-speaking countries. Before its shutdown, more than 100,000 users and over 100 sellers were registered on the platform.

The criminals used bitcoin and Monero cryptocurrencies to pay for illegal goods and services. From 2018 to 2024, the platform generated at least 1,000 bitcoin (nearly $95 million) and over 20,000 Monero coins (nearly $4 million) in transactions, the police said.

The platform operators received a 5% cut from those transactions, plus a monthly subscription fee from sellers, as well as advertising revenue.

According to the investigation, more arrests could follow, as police obtained “extensive user and transaction data” during the raids.

Crimenetwork is one of several illegal services dismantled by law enforcement across the world over the past few weeks. Earlier this week, French and Dutch authorities shut down an encrypted messaging service called MATRIX, which was used by criminals to commit serious crimes, including international drug trafficking, arms trafficking, and money laundering.

Last week, several law enforcement agencies across Europe cracked down on one of the largest illegal streaming networks and arrested nearly a dozen people tied to the operation. Earlier in November, the U.S. authorities disrupted an illicit marketplace called PopeyeTools, which was used to sell stolen credit card numbers and other tools for cybercrime.