An Australian man is accused of running a $220million illegal darkweb marketplace which has been called the biggest in the world and 'eBay for criminals'. 
A joint investigation by Australian Federal Police, Scotland Yard, the FBI, Europol, and German authorities, among others, led to the arrest of the Queensland man, 34, as he tried to cross the Danish border into Germany this week. 
The man, dark web darknet market known only as Julian K, is the alleged operator of darkmarket 2023 and has been detained by German investigators.




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The man was arrested at the Danish and German border after a joint international investigation (stock image) 

German prosecutors said the man was trying to flee Denmark into Germany when arrested and was travelling through Europe either on holiday or conducting business for the illegal website. 
They said the investigation around DarkMarket originated after the discovery of a data processing centre run by organised criminals in a 5,000sqm former NATO bunker in south-west Germany. 
The data facility hosted illegal websites, which included DarkMarket temporarily, and was shut down in 2019. 
The darkweb was originally developed for the United States military but has been overrun by criminals because they can conceal their identity on the platform.