Germany busts rebooted dark marketplace Crimenetwork selling drugs, forged documents

The first shutdown of the dark web marketplace in December 2024 was a short one, as the website was back online within days. Now the German police have busted it again and arrested its administrator in Mallorca with €314,000 in bitcoin.

The Public Prosecutor General’s Office of Frankfurt am Main, the Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (QUOTE), and the Federal Crime Police Office (BKA) have shut down a relaunched version of a dark web marketplace called “Crimenetwork.”

On top of that, Spanish police officers have arrested a 35-year-old citizen at his residence in Mallorca, who allegedly acted as the illicit marketplace’s administrator. The police found and seized several data carriers and around €314,000 in bitcoin.

According to the law enforcement authorities, the suspect is responsible for building a new technical infrastructure to relaunch Crimenetwork. This happened only a few days after the previous version of the dark web marketplace was shut down in December 2024.

The man is being accused of operating a criminal trading platform, but also of other crimes, including trafficking drugs in considerable quantities. Reportedly, he was responsible for around 1,000 victims in Germany.

In addition to the 35-year-old suspect, two other people from the Kaltenkirchen and Unna districts were arrested for their involvement in operating Crimenetwork.

Crimenetwork was once one of the largest illicit marketplaces in Germany. When it relaunched at the end of 2024, the platform offered a broad range of illegal goods and services, such as stolen data, narcotics, and forged documents.

The newest version of the dark web marketplace had over 22,000 users and more than 100 sellers. Buyers could pay for their purchases with cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, litecoin, and monero. Researchers estimate that the platform had a turnover of more than €3.6 million.

“The relaunch of Crimenetwork has failed, and another administrator will have to answer for his actions in a German court. Together with our national and international partners, we are consistently enforcing applicable law in the darknet as well. Cybercrime doesn’t pay,” Carsten Meywirth, Director at the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) and Head of the Cybercrime Department, said.

In March 2026, the administrator of the first version of Crimenetwork was sentenced by the Gießen Regional Court to seven years and ten months in prison. The court also ordered him to pay over €10 million he had obtained from criminal activities. The ruling isn’t final yet.

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