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# DarkMarket shutdown

January 2021, Darknet market
Led by [Bundeskriminalamt](https://takedownindex.org/organizations/bundeskriminalamt)

Extended pass entry, last reviewed August 21, 2026

What was taken down?

Servers seized; site taken offline.

[See what happened](#what-happened)

What happened to the people?

Officials reported 1 apprehended.
Group accounted for: Likely complete

[See people and accountability](#people)

Did it stay down?

Not established in the public record. No later activity is recorded against this entry.

[See what happened afterward](#afterward)

## What happened

German authorities seized DarkMarket server infrastructure and arrested the alleged operator near the German-Danish border; Europol reported roughly 500,000 users and more than 2,400 sellers.

**Date:** January 2021

**Target:** DarkMarket, darknet market

**Activity:** Darknet market

**Operational lead:** BKA

**Partners**

Europol[[1]](#source-1)

- [European Union Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation](https://takedownindex.org/organizations/european-union-agency-for-law-enforcement-cooperation), coordinator

**Jurisdiction:** Not established

**Outcome:** Servers seized; site taken offline.

**Status:** Completed

**Legal mechanism:** German judicial search/seizure authority.

**Group accounted for:** Likely complete

## People and accountability

No individual is named against this entry in the cited record. That is a gap in what has been published rather than a finding that nobody was involved.

Group accounted for: Likely complete

The single alleged operator was arrested; exact German charge counts were not made public in English-language material.

Europol reported approximately 500,000 users and more than 2,400 sellers.

[See the organizations and roles behind this action](https://takedownindex.org/takedowns/darkmarket-shutdown/organizations)

## What happened afterward

Not established in the public record. No later activity is recorded against this entry.

## Sources

Numbered markers throughout this entry link to the source that supports the claim beside them.

### Official sources

1.
[DarkMarket: world's largest illegal dark web marketplace taken down](https://takedownindex.org/sources/europol-darkmarket-world-s-largest-illegal-dark-web-marketplace-taken-down)

Europol, January 12, 2021, Source grade P2

Establishes the DarkMarket server seizure, operator arrest, and user/seller scale.

No address recorded for this source. Publisher, title, and date are given so it can be retrieved from the publisher.

Coverage note. Added from deep-research aggregation pass. Not independently re-verified source-by-source to the same standard as the original 38-incident core; source\_quality capped at S2/P2 pending a dedicated verification pass.

Research context

## How this entry was checked

This entry came from a broader aggregation pass and has not been independently verified source by source. Its sources are graded no higher than P2 or S2, and most carry no address yet. Treat the figures as a research lead rather than a settled record.

Source review: Extended pass, not yet verified

Sources cited: 1

Research cutoff: August 20, 2026

Last reviewed August 21, 2026

See also

[About the Internet Takedown Index](https://takedownindex.org/about)

Related entries

- [Operation Ladybird](https://takedownindex.org/takedowns/operation-ladybird)
- [Boystown CSAM platform takedown](https://takedownindex.org/takedowns/boystown-csam-platform-takedown)
- [Monopoly Market seizure](https://takedownindex.org/takedowns/monopoly-market-seizure)

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