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By Jordan King
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Hundreds of arrests have been made following an operation targeting dark web drug traffickers that spanned 14 countries, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) announced on Thursday.
Some 354 arrests took place, 132 of which were in the United States, while more than 5.7 metric tons of illicit drugs, more than $234 million in cryptocurrency and cash and 209 firearms were seized in what has been dubbed Operation TorNado, the FBI said.
The initiative to confront “one of the most urgent public safety threats of our time,” including the distribution of fentanyl, comes as the opioid drug continues to drive a deadly U.S. overdose crisis.
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FBI Deputy Director Christopher Raia said the operation, which ran from May 2025 to October 2026, illustrates the “real world consequences of illegal online drug sales,” citing two suspected overdose deaths in Ohio that his teams were able to trace to a web drug vendor operating out of North Carolina.
The FBI’s Joint Criminal Opioid and Darknet Enforcement team (JCODE) took part in Operation TorNado, along with the European Union’s law enforcement agency (Europol), and law enforcement partners in Australia and New Zealand.
International collaboration is the “best way” to “fight this head-on,” JCODE unit chief Christopher Lin said. “We’re going after the big fish—not just the street-level dealers.”
Newsweek has mapped out the 14 countries involved below.
Countries Involved in Operation TorNado
After the United States’ majority, 59 arrests took place in the United Kingdom, followed by 45 in Hungary, 41 in Germany and 23 in France.
New Zealand saw 13 arrests, the Netherlands 12, Slovenia 11, Austria six and Ireland five. The Czech Republic (four arrests), Australia (two) and Finland (one) accounted for the least.
Montenegro also participated in Operation TorNado, according to Europol, but it recorded no arrests, just a “knock and talk.”
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Operation TorNado in the US
Around 4.8 metric tons of illicit drugs were seized, including more than 354 kilograms of fentanyl and/or fentanyl-laced pills.
Last year, synthetic opioids such as fentanyl were involved in an estimated 38,084 U.S. overdose deaths, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s most recent data.
While it is a decline from the figure reported in 2024 (48,913) and other recent years, the number is still high above levels a decade ago—nearly four times the 9,580 recorded in 2015.
In Florida, two brothers were charged with operating a drug vendor dark web account that allegedly sold counterfeit oxycodone pills, which contained nitazenes, laboratory tests showed. Nitazenes are synthetic opioids that can be more potent than fentanyl.
The operation went beyond dark web marketplaces. An Oregon-based drug trafficking organization accused of using a Telegram channel to sell cocaine, MDMA, ketamine and marijuana, and distributing them through the U.S. Postal Service, was also targeted.
Other states involved in the operation included Pennsylvania and Texas.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Dave Siminoff.
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