Read Time:2 Minute, 0 Second
Police slammed a Rose Bay man and his brother with a slew of new charges over a dark web operation that sold $7 million worth of cocaine, MDMA, and prescription narcotics in 60,000 individual transactions. The two will remain on bail until at least October.
A two-year investigation by the NSW Police’s cybercrime department into a dark web company called Aussiepillimporter resulted in the arrest of brothers Alexander Busse, 39, of Rose Bay, and Ioan Busu, 33, of Chatswood, in May of this year. Police found a $100,000 drug ring, about $60,000 in cash, thousands of tablets, and three kilos of powder during the arrests, along with around 17 kilograms of tetrahydrocannabinol concealed in lollipops, cocaine, and MDMA.
“All items have since undergone forensic analysis,” says Police.
The two brothers allegedly distributed small amounts of cocaine, MDMA, prescription medications, and other illegal narcotics to thousands of customers across the nation via the Dark Web. Police claim they made millions of dollars from a large-scale online narcotics trade that sent up to 60 deliveries every day.
According to Cybercrime Commander Detective Superintendent Matt Craft, the brothers were a top priority for the Police because of how long they had allegedly been trafficking drugs. The brothers reportedly operated similarly to legitimate firms, buying drugs from wholesalers and packaging them into small amounts (one or two pills or half a gram of cocaine) for home delivery in exchange for bitcoin.
A hidden network of websites known as the “dark web” allows users to often acquire or sell illegal goods and services while remaining anonymous.
Traffickers and users flock to these websites because they provide a level of anonymity that is unavailable on the open street since the launch of Silk Road, the first significant dark web drug market, in 2011. Specialized software, like the widely used Tor, conceals IP addresses and, consequently, identities, making it more challenging for law enforcement to monitor routed user data through numerous servers and nodes around the globe.
With the aid of encryption techniques, communication between buyers and sellers is in disarray. And for individuals looking to avoid police suspicion, bitcoins provide an additional layer of security.
In a similar context to the Sydney brother’s case, Sergeant. Mike Lalande of the Calgary Police Service says, “The drug trade is moving to the digital space, online, because of its anonymity and ease of use.”
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0
