The police started following a suspicious Slovenian citizen in June this year. The Slovenian police, in cooperation with foreign security offices, started collecting data and later discovered that the person was selling illegal arms through the dark web and acquiring unlawful material gains, informs the Ljubljana Police Directorate.

The police came to the discovery with the help of "classical and concealed investigative measures". More details about the methods were not revealed. Doing investigative work on the dark web is one of the most demanding tasks, as the network is intended for anonymous communication. The police also found out that the 39-year-old Slovenian citizen worked together with a 33-year-old Slovenian from the Ljubljana area. Both have been arrested and are in police custody.

Arms by mail
The 39-year-old published his sales offer on the dark web market, while his accomplice delivered the ordered weapons at agreed locations in the capital. The first accused packed the weapons in a way that they were impossible to detect in random security checks. He then sent them through postal-logistics centres across Europe. Weapons were sold across the European Union (France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Great Britain, Italy) and in Norway, reports the Ljubljana police.

In one year – since November 2015 – the 39-year-old acquired unlawful material gains amounting to a total of 15.000 euros. The amount of money could very well be even higher, as numerous posts on various web forums point to the direction that weapon sales were made even before the start of the police investigation.

Al. Ma.; translated by K. J.