As we continue our coverage of the Kingdom Market seizure, today we are posting an English translated version of German LE's press release regarding the bust.

For the original, german language press release, visit the German BKA website.

Please note: the following is a translation from German to English. Grammar may not be perfect.

BKA and ZIT shut down darknet platform “Kingdom Market”.

Over 42,000 criminal offers ranging from drugs to malware are available to tens of thousands
User no longer available.

The Frankfurt am Main Public Prosecutor's Office - Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) - and the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) have coordinated internationally Action the server infrastructure of the illegal darknet marketplace, which is spread across several countries

“Kingdom Market” was secured and closed. The corresponding measures started on December 16, 2023.

The illegal marketplace was an English-language darknet platform that has been accessible via the Tor network and the Invisible Internet Project (I2P) since at least March 2021. Their focus was on trafficking in illegal narcotics. In addition, Malware, criminal services and fake documents are profitably advertised via the platform. Most recently, over 42,000 products were offered on the marketplace, Of these, around 3,600 products come from Germany. Tens of thousands of customers and several hundred seller accounts were registered on the marketplace.

To pay, users of the darknet marketplace used the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin, Litecoin, Monero and Zcash. For the processing of sales made via the platform. The operators of illegal goods received three percent as a commission payment.

The operators of “Kingdom Market” are suspected of operating on a commercial basis a criminal trading platform on the Internet and the illicit trade in narcotics.

During the investigation, the BKA and ZIT cooperated closely with law enforcement authorities USA, Switzerland, Moldova and Ukraine.

The following security banner was published on the service's Tor website today

The renewed success in combating organized cybercrime is a result of international law enforcement coordination and innovation Investigation strategies.

The evaluation of the secured server infrastructure and the investigations for identification
those responsible continue