Sentence passed against three Swedes for operating drug site Archetyp – 250 million euros in turnover
Three Swedish men have been convicted of aiding and abetting serious drug trafficking via the darknet marketplace Archetyp, which had over 600,000 users. The site generated turnover of at least 2.7 billion kronor.
The sentence against the Archetyp moderators: one of the world's largest drug markets
Three Swedish men have appeared in court for their role in operating the darknet marketplace Archetyp – one of the two largest illegal trading platforms of its kind in the world, according to police. This is reported by Sydsvenskan.
The men are being prosecuted for aiding and abetting aggravated drug trafficking and are suspected of having functioned as moderators on the site, which sold cannabis, cocaine, LSD and other drugs in exchange for payment in cryptocurrency.
– It was one of the two largest marketplaces of its kind in the world, says Björn Eriksson, criminal inspector at the National IT Crime Centre.
Functioned like Blocket – but on the darknet
Archetyp was structured like an ordinary e-commerce platform with search functions, product listings and user profiles. The difference was that it operated on the darknet, which makes traffic harder to trace.
– It essentially functions like Blocket or Tradera and other legal sites. You register seller and buyer accounts and then you trade back and forth, but with cryptocurrency, explains Eriksson.
When the authorities shut down the site in 2025, Archetyp had 600,000 users, 3,000 active sellers and 17,000 listings. The total turnover value is estimated at a minimum of 250 million euros – equivalent to over 2.7 billion kronor.
Links to serious organised crime
A large portion of the profits is assessed to have gone to criminal gangs with links to bombings and shootings in Sweden.
– We have seen that there is quite a close connection to serious organised crime, the kind behind both bombings and shootings, and which at the same time has been able to reap millions of kronor from this activity, says Eriksson.
The number of Swedish users on Archetyp increased after its predecessor Flugsvamp 3.0 was shut down. According to Eriksson, sellers and buyers have subsequently continued to migrate to new platforms even after Archetyp's closure.
Police call for expanded digital powers
Combating digital crime of this kind is both time-consuming and technically complicated. National Police Commissioner Petra Lundh called for new legislation last summer that would give police expanded powers online – for example the ability to block telephone systems used in fraud calls or shut down specific accounts and platforms.
– Nobody wants the digital world to be a free zone where criminals can commit crimes risk-free. That is why we need the same powers in the digital world as in the physical world, says Eriksson.
Source: Sydsvenskan