T. Miller According to a report by Yle, the National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) has increased efforts to monitor illegal trafficking of drugs and other substances online, in collaboration with other authorities.
As per the 2019 Global Drugs Survey (GDS), Finland was the country with the most amount of drug trafficking conducted on the dark web. The dark web refers to hidden websites that cannot be accessed via conventional search engines and require specialised browsers such as Tor.
The survey included nearly 2,200 respondents from Finland. Almost half the Finns (45 per cent) who had used or purchased drugs in the past year had bought them on the dark web. England came in second, with 29 per cent of respondents who had recently purchased drugs through the dark web, followed by Australia, with 15 per cent.
According to police, the drug network in Finland is vast, with buyers and sellers of diverse backgrounds and ages scattered across the country. As a result of increased internet access, drug trafficking is reportedly no longer limited to cities, but has spread to more remote areas of Finland as well.
In a press release, KRP stated that it is launching a dark web monitoring project at its Cybercrime Center, which will provide a more accurate picture of the drug market in Finland.
The fixed-term project was started with additional funding from the government. It will identify, among other things, the main platforms used to purchase illegal substances, the key players in the market and the role played by organised crime syndicates.
