Operation TorNado: 354 Arrests and $234 Million Seized as the FBI and Allies Smash Dark Web Fentanyl Markets

Federal agents and their partners overseas have arrested 354 people and seized more than $234 million in cash and cryptocurrency in what the Justice Department called the largest takedown of dark web drug vendors in the history of its specialized task force, the department announced Thursday ^[1].

The effort, called Operation TorNado, was led by the FBI's Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team, known as JCODE, working with Europol, and it reached across the United States, Europe, Australia and New Zealand ^[1]. Attorney General Todd Blanche and other federal officials announced the results at a news conference at Justice Department headquarters in Washington, NTD News reported ^[3].

"Nothing will stop the Trump Administration from identifying and dismantling drug trafficking networks," Blanche said in the department's announcement ^[1]. FBI Director Kash Patel called it the largest interagency takedown of dark web drug vendors and buyers to date ^[1].

What Agents Seized

The numbers are staggering. Along with the $234 million, investigators seized about 5.7 metric tons of illegal drugs worldwide, including fentanyl and other opioids, methamphetamine, heroin, cocaine and MDMA, plus 38 pill presses and 209 firearms, according to the Justice Department ^[1]. Five dark web markets were taken down: Archetyp, Bohemia, Nemesis, Kingdom and Tor2Door ^[1]. The department said the vendors it targeted had sold to tens of thousands of U.S. residents ^[1].

Of the 354 arrests, 132 were in the United States. The United Kingdom made 59 arrests, Hungary 45, Germany 41 and France 23, with others in the Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovenia, Austria, Ireland, Czechia, Australia and Finland ^[1]. Investigators are still working to identify some account holders ^[1]. The investigation ran from May 2025 through October 2026, and federal cases are being prosecuted in more than 20 districts ^[1].

This was the sixth and most extensive international action by JCODE since the task force was created in 2018, building on last year's Operation RapTor ^[1]. For comparison, the 2023 Operation SpecTor, then a record, produced 288 arrests and seized $53.4 million and about 850 kilograms of drugs ^[4].

The Cases Behind the Numbers

The department's announcement described several of the cases. Prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia charged two men, a Russian national and a naturalized U.S. citizen, who were arrested in Florida and are accused of running a vendor account that sold counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with nitazenes, a class of powerful synthetic opioids. More than 1,000 parcels were allegedly shipped to 49 states ^[1].

In Ohio, federal prosecutors charged a North Carolina man accused of running a vendor account on a market that accepted only the cryptocurrency Monero. The account has been linked to two overdose deaths in southern Ohio, and agents seized about 200 grams of methamphetamine and more than 2 kilograms of counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, according to the department ^[1].

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In California, a Bakersfield man is accused of selling methamphetamine, cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil. Agents seized 48 pounds of methamphetamine along with the other drugs and more than $40,000 in cash ^[1]. In New Jersey, seven defendants are accused of running a cell that shipped drugs nationwide by mail, and about 300 kilograms of counterfeit Xanax, MDMA, ketamine and other drugs were seized in Lodi, Lawrence Township, Bergenfield and Englewood ^[1]. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court ^[1].

Why It Matters

For years, dealers have believed that a hidden website and a cryptocurrency wallet put them beyond the reach of the law. Thursday's announcement says otherwise. Christopher Raia, a co-deputy director of the FBI, told reporters that "the dark web is not beyond the reach of law enforcement," Townhall reported ^[2]. An FBI official said cooperation across agencies and countries was essential given the scale of the threat ^[2].

Every pill press pulled off the street and every counterfeit pill seized is a potential overdose that will never happen in an American home. Fentanyl does not respect borders, and neither should the effort to stop it. JCODE brings together the FBI, the DEA, Homeland Security Investigations, the IRS, the Postal Inspection Service, the ATF and other agencies, with help from police in roughly a dozen other countries, the department said ^[1].

The arrests are only the beginning of the legal process. Prosecutors must now make their cases in court, and the department said its work to identify more account holders continues ^[1]. Families who have lost loved ones to poisoned pills will be watching to see that justice is done.