Dark web marketplaces AlphaBay and Hansa shut down

Two of the biggest Tor-based destinations for guns, drugs and other illicit goods shut down as US decries dark web as 'no place to hide'

AlphaBay and Hansa - two of the largest "dark web" marketplaces for illegal and illicit items such as drugs and guns - have been shut down, the US Justice Department said on Thursday.

Police in the US and Europe, including the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the Dutch National Police, partnered to shutter the sites accused of allowing thousands of vendors to sell illegal drugs, of which Europol said there were 250,000 listings on AlphaBay alone, with 200,000 members and 40,000 vendors.