In an article published in BBC News in early July this year, the result of research by Dan Hardoon, the author believes that 3D-printed guns could become the weapon of choice for criminals and violent extremists around the world.

These untraceable homemade firearms have been recovered in several recent criminal cases, including the alleged murder of Brian Thompson, CEO of United HealthCare, in the United States.

Dan Hardoon has investigated the global spread of 3D-printed weapons through social media platforms such as Telegram, Facebook and Instagram, and on websites offering guides on how to make them. These are firearms that can be assembled with a printer from downloadable blueprints and some basic materials.

Designed to circumvent gun-control laws, the technology to manufacture these devices has advanced rapidly in the last decade, and the latest models are capable of firing multiple rounds without breaking the plastic components. The materials have improved, the cost has gone down and the ease of access to the plans is at its peak. For all these reasons, they could become the weapons of choice for those planning violent acts.

Hardoon’s research began with tracking gun ads on Instagram and Facebook. In this vein, the Tech Transparency Project, a non-profit organization that monitors technology companies, found hundreds of advertisements for 3D printed and so-called ghost guns.

Many of these gun ads guided potential customers to Telegram or WhatsApp channels. A Telegram account with more than 1,000 subscribers advertised that it could ship guns to anywhere in the world.

However, a Telegram spokesperson stated that the sale of weapons is explicitly prohibited by the terms of service and is removed whenever it is discovered. Moderators empowered with personalised artificial intelligence and machine learning tools proactively monitor public parts of the platform and accept reports to remove millions of pieces of malicious content every day, including the sale of weapons.

More troubling, however, is that people looking for 3D-printed guns don’t need to buy them ready-made through social media; they can assemble them themselves. Models such as the FGC-9 are designed using only 3D-printed plastic and reused metal components, without having to use commercially available weapon parts.

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European law enforcement authorities have dismantled Archetyp Market, the most prolific dark web marketplace, following a large-scale operation involving five countries, with support from Europol and Eurojust.

Between 11 and 13 June of this year, a series of coordinated actions were carried out in Germany, the Netherlands, Romania, Spain and Sweden, targeting the platform’s administrator, moderators, key suppliers and technical infrastructure. Some 300 officers were deployed to enforce the law and secure critical evidence.

Archetyp Market operated as a drug market for more than five years, during which time it accumulated more than 600,000 users worldwide, with a total transaction volume of at least 250 million euros. With more than 17,000 listings, it is one of the few dark web marketplaces that allowed the sale of fentanyl and other highly potent synthetic opioids, contributing to the growing threat posed by these substances in Europe.

As a result of the police action, the platform’s infrastructure in the Netherlands was taken offline and its administrator, a 30-year-old German citizen, was arrested in Barcelona. In parallel, measures were taken in Germany and Sweden against a moderator and six of the market’s main sellers, and assets worth EUR 7.8 million were seized.

This operation, led by German authorities, marks the end of a criminal service that allowed the anonymous trade of a large volume of illicit drugs, such as cocaine, methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), amphetamines and synthetic opioids. The platform’s resilience, scale and reputation within the criminal community place it alongside now-defunct dark web marketplaces such as Dream Market and Silk Road, both known for facilitating online drug trafficking.

Europol’s Deputy Executive Director of Operations, Jean-Philippe Lecouffe, certifies that law enforcement has eliminated one of the oldest drug markets on the dark web, and this fact has cut off a major supply line for some of the world’s most dangerous substances.

Europol has contributed to the efficiency and effectiveness of international investigations. The agency organised multiple coordination meetings that allowed authorities to exchange information critical to the investigation. During the action days and preliminary investigations, Eurojust coordinated the execution of mutual legal assistance and European Investigation Orders.

The dismantling comes after years of intensive investigation to map the technical architecture of the platform and identify the people behind it. By tracking financial flows, analysing digital forensic evidence and working closely together in the field, it has been possible to strike a decisive blow to one of the most prolific drug markets on the dark web.

By dismantling its infrastructure and arresting its key players, law enforcement authorities have sent a clear message: there is no safe haven for those who profit from crime.

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An important effort coordinated and led by the Danish National Special Crime Unit with the support of the Swedish Police and Europol, under Task Force GRIMM, has resulted in the arrest of several individuals suspected of recruiting minors and young people to commit contract killings in Denmark.

The arrests are the result of multiple investigations into some assassination attempts arranged through encrypted platforms, including a recent attack on 7 May this year in Kokkedal. A total of seven persons between 14 and 26 years of age were arrested or handed over to the Danish authorities from abroad, in particular from Sweden and Morocco.

Among those arrested are two 18-year-old men arrested in Western Sweden and suspected of actively recruiting young people to commit targeted killings in Denmark and Sweden. Several suspects are also believed to have facilitated the attacks by providing the hitmen with weapons, ammunition and shelters.

These cases are part of a growing trend across Europe of recruiting young people online to commit violent crimes. Criminal networks use social media to post contract offers for shootings, a modus operandi known as “violence-as-a-service”, which increasingly places minors at the centre of cross-border organised crime.

Torben Svarrer, chief police inspector of the Danish National Special Crime Unit, points out that investigations show that the reality is much less lucrative than promised and the consequences can be very serious.

Theodor Smedius, superintendent of the National Operations Department of the Swedish Police, says that through international police cooperation, the search for those who fuel violence from behind the veil of anonymity, on digital platforms, wherever they are, will continue.

These actions were supported by Europol, through the OTF GRIMM, an operational task force created in April 2025 to address the growing use of encrypted services to coordinate contract killings across Europe.

The task force currently brings together Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Europol. Iceland is the most recent country to participate, which further strengthens the collective effort against violence-as-a-service. More countries are expected to join in the coming months.

Thanks to intelligence shared within the task force, several major targets have already been arrested, and investigations continue across Europe. Joint efforts are also underway with online service providers to help dismantle the criminal infrastructure that enables these attacks.

Andy Kraag, head of Europol’s European Serious Organised Crime Centre, believes that teenagers being paid to pull the trigger will change organised crime by 2025. These are not petty crimes, these are calculated outsourcing of murders by criminal networks that treat human lives as disposable assets. Through the OTF GRIMM, law enforcement is tracking down the masterminds and dismantling the infrastructure behind which they hide. It is considered that there is no safe haven, online or in person, for those who trade in violence.

Parents and communities are encouraged to be vigilant and look for early signs of criminal recruitment, such as sudden changes in behaviour or unexplained possession of money or expensive items. Europol has developed an awareness guide that offers practical advice to help protect young people from falling victim to these manipulative criminal schemes.

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A few years ago, it was surprising to learn that drug traffickers were using drones to move small illicit loads. But now, fully into 2025, the scenario has taken a disturbing turn. Today, drones are weapons of war: they carry improvised explosives and spread terror from the sky. The victims are no longer only rivals or police authorities, but also the civilian population. What is known about this new tool of organised crime in Mexico?

Along with countries in a state of war, such as Ukraine and Syria, Mexico is also part of the list of territories with drone-dropped explosive attacks. And the number of aggressions and deaths they cause is clearly on the rise.

The Mexican Secretariat of National Defense (Sedena) has acknowledged the deaths of 16 soldiers in 2022 and 42 during the first seven months of 2023. In turn, between 2012 and 2014, in the United States 150 drones were detected crossing the border into Mexico loaded with drugs, while since 2022 to date the U.S. border patrol has recorded the flight of some 155,000 drones used by the organised crime at the border.

In Mexico, it only takes a few clicks on Amazon to purchase a drone, with no regulation limiting its sale or acquisition. In addition, they have a derisory cost for organisations that spend billions of dollars on weapons. Thanks to the specimens confiscated in Sedena operations, it is known that some groups use basic models, of approximately 700 dollars. But cartels with greater financial capacity, such as Jalisco New Generation, use high-end agricultural drones, originally designed for fumigation.

Another advantage of these unmanned aircraft is that no sophisticated training is required to operate them.

Everything points to the fact that drones today have a more important role in surveillance and attack tasks than in the transport of narcotics. They have been used to launch chemical explosive devices, such as in April 2024, in Michoacán, which caused a stinging and suffocating sensation among the civilian population. Initially they were used only against rival groups, but over time they have begun to affect civilian infrastructure: houses, schools, temples, etc. However, several journalistic and academic investigations suggest that the cartels do not only use drones to attack; they are also effective espionage tools. A drone can accurately identify the license plate of a moving vehicle, detect the body heat of a person hidden in the trees and intercept private communications, all without putting the operator at risk.

In the face of this growing threat – which includes direct aggressions against its personnel – Sedena has intensified the acquisition and deployment of unmanned systems, designed not only for surveillance and reconnaissance tasks, but also to inhibit enemy drones. In addition, Sedena is working with the Aeronautical University in Querétaro on the development of the first 100% Mexican drone, aimed at surveillance and crime-fighting tasks.

At the regional level, the government of Michoacán has implemented a portable anti-drone system that combines a detection radar with a jamming cannon, capable of shooting down drones at a distance of up to 1.5 kilometres.

The CIA has operated a drone programme in Mexico for more than two decades, using mostly MQ-9 Reaper aircraft – commonly used in counter-terrorism operations – to monitor drug trafficking leaders at the request of the Mexican government.

In May of this year, the Mexican Senate urgently requested an amendment to the Civil Aviation Law to regulate the use of unmanned aircraft. The proposal seeks to establish controls over points of sale and require a registry of those who import, market and own drones, in order to be able to trace their final destination and prevent them from ending up in the hands of organised crime.

The request comes in a context in which organised crime has already appropriated technological tools to enhance its violent capacity, and armed drones have already claimed lives.

In the meantime, Mexico must deal with this new type of violence: one that falls from the sky, without warning and without clear consequences for those responsible.

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During the past month of May, Europol coordinated a referral action day (RAD) on the online exploitation and radicalisation of minors. During this day, more than 2,000 links pointing to jihadist, terrorist and violent right-wing extremist propaganda aimed at minors were referred.

The referral day took place just weeks after Europol launched a new operational task force to address the growing trend of recruiting young people into serious and organised crime.

Recent data provided by Europol reveals that minors are currently involved in more than 70% of criminal markets. Protecting children from being recruited and exploited by criminal networks is one of Europol’s key priorities. Strong collaboration between public authorities and private sector partners is essential to prevent the radicalisation of minors, and to prevent them from harming themselves and our society.

Terrorist groups are increasingly targeting young people and exploiting their vulnerabilities. They also take advantage of their online capabilities and skills in advancing violent and extremist agendas. It is a new wave that uses broader manipulation tactics.

Terrorist organisations and their supporters have developed new tactics to recruit and gain followers by tailoring their message and investing in new technologies and platforms to manipulate and reach minors.

The propaganda identified during the operational action includes content combining images and videos of children with extremist messages, as well as materials offering guidance to radicalised parents on raising future jihadists.

One of the key observations that has led to this coordinated action is the use of artificial intelligence, especially in the creation of images, text and videos designed to deter a younger audience. Propagandists invest in content, short videos, memes and other visual formats, carefully stylised to appeal to minors and families who may be susceptible to extremist manipulation, as well as content that incorporates gaming elements with terrorist audiovisual material.

Another type of content is the glorification of minors involved in terrorist attacks. In this sense, terrorist propaganda predominantly targets minors and manipulates them into joining extremist groups based on heroic narratives that portray them as “warriors” and “the hope of society”.

Girls are mentioned much less frequently and their role is largely limited to raising and indoctrinating future fighters for the cause.

Another disturbing manipulation technique in recent years is the increasing use of victim narratives, particularly images of children wounded or killed in conflict zones. This manipulation serves a dual purpose: it fosters emotional identification with the victims, while inciting a desire for retaliation and further violence.

During 2024, law enforcement authorities in EU member states contributed to solving a large number of terrorism-related cases involving minors.

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