EU – Baltic States, Internet, Latvia, Legislation, Technology

Photo: vp.gov.lv

"Darkode" was taken down in an operation involving authorities from twenty countries, it was run by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation and supported by Europol's European Cybercrime Center. In Latvia, officers from the State Police's International Cooperation Bureau and Economic Crime Prevention Department participated in the operation.

During the operation, the forum was taken down, 37 searches were performed in eighteen countries, and a total of 28 persons were detained. The police have also confiscated a large number of computers and other devices.

In Riga, the police searched one apartment, seizing not only computers but also narcotic substances – three grams of hashish and five grams of MDMA tablets. The police detained the owner of the apartment, a man born in 1992.

The police have opened a criminal case against the man, who has been charged with drug possession. After the police evaluate the materials confiscated in the man's apartment, he could also be charged with cyber crimes. According to the State Police, the man was a very active user of the forum.

The "Darkode" forum was formed in 2009, it had a total of 250 to 300 active users, including the world's leading hackers. Darkode was among the top five of the most prolific criminal forums worldwide, Europol said. It said this list was otherwise dominated by Russian-speaking criminal platforms.