Operation Bayonet (July 2017 — AlphaBay + Hansa)
eventIntelligence & Surveillance · The Blackmail Network · Media & Managed Opposition · Darknet & Cyber
Police didn't just shut down a giant drug market, they secretly ran it for a month to trap everyone who used it.
Who they are
Operation Bayonet, a coordinated July 2017 takedown of the AlphaBay and Hansa darknet markets.
What they do
It combined a seizure with a covert sting.
How it works
The FBI, DEA, and Europol seized AlphaBay, while Dutch police had already quietly taken over Hansa Market a month earlier and ran it themselves for 27 days as a honeypot, catching users fleeing from the AlphaBay shutdown.
Why it matters
The engine treats it as a textbook example of the state temporarily becoming the illegal platform itself, faking a safe marketplace to map out everyone in the network.
The engine's record — word for word
Globally coordinated darknet takedown July 2017. FBI/DEA/Europol seized AlphaBay; Dutch National Police (NHTCU) had pre-seized Hansa Market a month prior and operated it covertly for 27 days as honeypot, capturing displaced AlphaBay users. Engine-canonical kayfabe template: state actor temporarily becomes the substrate, orchestrates announcement layer (illusion of secure illicit market) to map behavioral and logistical network of participants.
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