A family of three pleaded guilty to manufacturing and distributing fentanyl-laced pills through the dark web.Hadja Franklin, 55, Tanziludin Bangurah, 52, and their child, Nabyunissa Bangoura, 34, manufactured counterfeit oxycodone and Xanax in a laboratory in their residence in Pennsylvania before distributing them through the dark web under the vendor name “MonPham.”The FBI, USPIS, and FDA-OCI launched investigations into MonPham in fall 2021. A review of the vendor’s accounts on several markets, including ToRReZ, ASAP, Vice City, Bohemia, and Tor2Door, revealed that all the accounts had the same PGP key. The vendor also made direct deals via Wickr under the username “DrZhivagoEM.”During the investigations, the investigating agents made multiple undercover purchases of oxycodone and Xanax from MonPham via dark web marketplaces and Wickr. Below is a record of the under cover purchases Blockchain analysis revealed that bitcoin sent to the vendor during the undercover purchases ended up in an account at an undisclosed exchange. Information acquired from the exchange revealed that the account was being accessed from an IP address associated with PenTeleData. Information from PenTeleData revealed that the IP address had been assigned to Bangurah.The investigators set up surveillance at Bangurah’s residence in August 2022. On August 24, Bangurah exited the residence carrying a backpack and the investigators followed him to a USPS collection box where he dropped off a package. The investigators retrieved the package, acquired a search warrant, and found that it carried 27 counterfeit oxycodone pills. The investigators contacted the package’s intended recipient. The recipient revealed they had purchased Oxy from MonPham. The recipient also gave the investigators access to his account and they confirmed he had an order with MonPham that was awaiting delivery.The investigators executed a search warrant at Bangurah’s residence on August 31. The search resulted in the discovery of a fully equipped pill production laboratory in the laundry room. The investigators seized a commercial-grade pill press, a vacuum sealer, a commercial-gradepowder blender, and personal protective equipment. They also seized an undisclosed number of pills, electronic devices, and ledgers. Below is a picture of the home made lab. Conversations recovered from the electronic devices revealed that the family had been using fentanyl and other ingredients to manufacture the counterfeit pills. Sales records recovered from the seized ledgers revealed that the trio had sold approximately 3,057 counterfeit oxycodone pills and 57,000 counterfeit Xanax pills.On March 5, 2024, each of the defendants pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute 40 grams or more of fentanyl Source:Darknetlive

Investigations led by the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Düsseldorf Police Headquarters resulted in the execution of over 100 search warrants in different parts of Germany and the arrest of suspected Crimemarket users.The Dusseldorf police headquarters launched investigations into Crimemarket in 2020. The investigators established that the forum’s users participated in the sale and purchase of drugs and weapons. Illicit services such as the sale of stolen accounts, were also available on the forum. The investigations targeted the forum’s 180,000 members.The investigations culminated with the execution of 102 search warrants nationwide on February 29, 2024. The searches resulted in the seizure of electronic devices and drugs including, 1 kilogram of marijuana and ecstasy tablets. The investigators also seized 600,000 euros in cash and movable assets.The searches resulted in the arrest and detention of six suspects. The investigations’ main suspect, a 23-year-old, was arrested at his home in North Rhine-Westphalia.The investigators took control of Crimemarket’s servers and domain. The investigators kept the site online and turned it into a honeypot. Source: Darknetlive