The U.S. Department of Justice has officially confirmed its role in the global law enforcement operation that took down the darknet marketplace AlphaBay earlier this month.

AlphaBay, which allowed the sale of illegal goods and services like drugs and hacking tools, disappeared on July 5. In a statement released today, the DOJ confirmed reports that alleged AlphaBay co-owner Alexandre Cazes, a Canadian citizen, had been arrested in Thailand by local authorities on the same day that the service went down.

According to the DOJ, the effort to take down AlphaBay involved the cooperation of numerous foreign partners, who have frozen and preserved millions of dollars in cryptocurrency and other assets held by the darknet service. The darknet is a shady part of the Internet accessible only by special software.

The charges filed against Cazes included racketeering, identity theft, money laundering and more. The DOJ said that AlphaBay allowed Cazes and his wife to amass numerous high value assets, including luxury cars, residences and an expensive hotel room in Thailand. Authorities seized millions of dollars in cryptocurrency held by Cazes, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California filed a civil forfeiture complaint against Cazes and his wife’s other assets around the world.

The DOJ confirmed that on July 12, Cazes “apparently took his own life” while still in Thai custody.

AlphaBay was reportedly the largest darknet marketplace at the time it was taken down, with more than 250,000 listings for illegal drugs and toxic chemicals and more than 100,000 listings for firearms, stolen documents, malware and other illegal goods. This dwarfs the size of the Silk Road, another defunct darknet marketplace, which reportedly had 14,000 listings for illegal goods and services when it was taken down in 2013.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions called the victory against AlphaBay “one of the most important criminal investigations of the year,” and he added that “the dark net is not a place to hide.”

Chuck Rosenberg, acting administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration, backed up Sessions’ statement, saying, “The so-called anonymity of the dark web is illusory. We will find and prosecute drug traffickers who set up shop there, and this case is a great example of our commitment to doing exactly that. More to come.”

Although AlphaBay is no more, the investigation into the service is still ongoing, and the authorities say they have already identified another AlphaBay staffer living in the United States. The DOJ also that authorities are investigating multiple deaths attributed to overdoses from drugs purchased through AlphaBay.

AlphaBay is not the only darknet marketplace taken down this month. The joint operation against AlphaBay coincided with Dutch law enforcement’s takedown of Hansa Market, another darknet service that allowed the sale of illegal goods.

“Sellers and buyers, and also administrators of illegal market places often believe they are safe from detection by the police and the judicial authorities,” the Dutch National Police said in a statement. “By carrying out criminal investigations into these criminals, and prosecuting them, it will become clear that the darkweb is not as anonymous as its users might think.”

The investigation into Hansa Market is also still ongoing.

Image: U.S. Department of Justice