An investigation that lasted for years led to the arrest of three men running an international drug trafficking network from the "dark web" outside Nanaimo, British Columbia.

Mounties say they launched an undercover investigation with an online drug dealer called "AlwaysOverweight" in early 2019.

The police say the "AlwaysOverweight" account was trafficking large quantities of drugs, including methamphetamine, cocaine, ecstasy, oxycodone, and Xanax.

The police say the account was using encrypted messaging apps and dealing in cryptocurrency to try to remain anonymous.

The RCMP describes the dark web as the "third hidden layer" of the internet, after the commonly used "open web" and the second layer of the "deep web".

The dark web requires users to use special internet browsers that hide their IP addresses, such as the Tor browser, according to the RCMP.

The police say they managed to "breach the digital barriers of the criminal group" and identify an address in Nanaimo, British Columbia, as the actual location of the dark web stores.

After about a year of investigation, the Mounties arrested three suspects and executed search warrants at two homes in Nanaimo.

The police seized a variety of items during the searches, including a collection of drugs, drug packaging, cash, computers, data storage devices, various documents, and mail envelopes.

The three men arrested, "Ken Truong Pham," "Gordon Brooks," and "Wakery Chang," face a range of drug trafficking charges.

The three are scheduled to appear in Nanaimo provincial court on June 7. "Superintendent Richard Bergiven, the officer in charge of the federal police in the RCMP," said, "This is a great example of our ability to adapt quickly and modify our investigative techniques to face the rapidly evolving and dynamic world of cybercrime.

The dark web is just one of the tools used by organized crime to avoid detection, so the police need to constantly develop their technical capabilities to stop the flow of toxic drugs into our communities."