The disturbing world of the Deep Web or Dark Web: How contract killers and drug dealers use the Internet

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ANYTHING to the desired victim. If I say anything I mean anything.' Many of the sites even use slogans and marketing techniques that, if it weren't for their macabre subject matter, could be as at home on the website of a legitimate retail website. 'The best place to put your problems is in a grave,' boasts one. Some even seem to offer others the chance to profit from their killing by allowing users to bet on when a victim will die by putting money in a pool. The closest guess takes home the pot. And while many appear every inch the cold-blooded killer one would expect from a gun-for-hire, there is also apparently the odd humanitarian hitman. 'Killing is in most cases wrong, yes,' writes one. 'However, as this is an inevitable direction in the technological evolution, I would rather see it in the hands of me than somebody else.' 'By providing it cheaply and accurately I hope that more immoral alternatives won't be profitable or trusted enough. This should primarily be a tool for retribution.' Adding that murder should always be committed for 'good reason', he writes: 'Bad reasons include doctors for performing abortions and Justin Bieber for making annoying music.' The Silk Road's creator, Ross Ulbricht, was arrested last month after allegedly hiring an undercover FBI agent to murder a member of the site who was apparently blackmailing him. He allegedly also tried to have an employee killed who he thought might blow his identity to police. Meanwhile, even as the Silk Road was trundling to a halt, already hundreds of other websites were springing up in its place, peddling anything from drugs to stolen identities, illegal weapons to sickening child pornography and even explosives. In June it emerged one such site, called Atlantis, was even offering its wares in an advert posted on YouTube. Looking like an advert for a well-funded Silicon Valley start-up, the slick promo video for Atlantis boasts that it is 'the world's best anonymous online drug marketplace'. It comes as the site's backers announced the launch of a 'big social media campaign' that seems intended to make a play for the market share of the better-known Silk Road.

Place your bets: Some 'hitmen' seem to offer others the chance to profit from their killing by allowing users to bet on when a victim will die by putting money in a pool. The closest guess takes home the pot

The Silk Road: The Deep Web has existed for more than a decade but came under the spotlight last month after police shutdown the Silk Road website - the online marketplace dubbed the 'eBay of drugs - and arrested its creator

But while experts say police are all but powerless to shut down websites selling illicit products, authorities claim they are making inroads in their bid to stifle the Deep Web's growth. The U.S. federal government appears to have been forcing the shut down of pedophiles communities on the shady underbelly of the Internet by targeting sites hiding within the Deep Web. August saw the arrest of Irishman Eric Eoin Marques, who the FBI has called 'the biggest facilitator of child pornography on the planet'. Marques is accused of running Freedom Hosting, a web hosting service that operates on the anonymous Tor network. Forums on Freedom Hosting allegedly allowed pedophiles to anonymously share horrific child pornography and trade tips on how to sexually abuse children without getting caught.

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