The I-Team has been reporting on Operation J-CODE for five years. The Joint Criminal Opioid Darknet Enforcement group targets illegal drug sales from the underbelly of the internet, a bootleg marketplace where opioids, cocaine, guns and many things illegal are readily available.
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This week federal law enforcement took down hundreds of darknet traffickers around the world and a pair of accused dealers traveling through Midway Airport.
From coast to coast and around the world, a small global army of heavily armed and specially trained agents are now targeting the dark web fentanyl sakes on websites that aren't nearly as difficult to reach as the name might suggest.
This week's accumulated seizures of drugs, high velocity weapons and arrests of nearly 300 people on three continents makes the worldwide bust the largest-ever targeting fentanyl and opioid trafficking.
"It's hard to quantify the number of deaths from this potentially related to this particular operation," said FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate.
Chicago is among the FBI field offices now executing "knock and talk" actions against drug buyers, telling them their dark web purchases have not been anonymous.
On Monday the I-Team reported a resurgence of cocaine in Chicago . The prized party drug of the 80's is now spiked with sometimes-deadly fentanyl.
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And while fentanyl is currently the primary problem for federal agents, not all drug deals move through the dark web.
Two Detroit men are now charged with hauling a huge supply of fentanyl at Chicago's Midway Airport. Authorities claim wrapped bricks of the potentially deadly drug were found inside their checked luggage.
According to the Chicago police reports, the fentanyl found at Midway has a street value of more than $3 million.
Veteran crime fighters know that in many cases old fashioned "gumshoe" tactics are needed to make arrests. That kind of on the ground legwork by police and federal agents is what led to the Midway Airport arrests and fentanyl seizure.
The challenge for law enforcement agencies is that drug trafficking organizations-or DTO's as they are known are adept that working the dark web to sell fentanyl and coming up with the next police workaround.