Prosecution Demands Six-Year Sentence for "Drug Dealer 2.0"

The Public Prosecution Service asked the court, during a hearing in Rotterdam, to sentence a darkweb drug vendor to six years in prison. According to investigators, the 23-year-old defendant shipped more than 600 packages of drugs to customers in several different countries.

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“Not only did he offer the bulk of intercepted drug-filled mail packages to drop-off points at a mail and parcel company, [the defendant] also handled 611 drug orders through the darkweb,” the public prosecutor said in court on May 26, 2020.

The police, during the investigation, learned that the defendant had two vendor accounts on undisclosed darkweb marketplaces. He had created the first vendor account in late 2018. Investigators linked the 23-year-old to both vendor accounts through the public and private PGP keys found on the defendant’s laptop.

Investigation

Police opened an investigation into the 23-year-old in February 2020. While inspecting incoming mail, the Hit and Run Cargo Team (HARC) found two packages of printers filled with drugs. Five kilograms of MDMA and five grams of cocaine. The Post Intervention Team, during their investigation, learned of a connection between the seized packages of printers and other seized packages of drugs. Investigators routinely found up to “a few kilos” of drugs stuffed inside printers, fryers, and other electronic devices. In one linked seizure, the police intercepted a package of aftershave from a “well-known cosmetic brand.” The supplier had replaced the contents of the aftershave bottles with amphetamine.

Later, after investigators had learned of a connection between incoming packages of drugs and outgoing packages, they monitored they feeds from security cameras in the area. Specifically, police watched the footage from cameras at the locations where the defendant dropped off packages of drugs.

According to evidence presented by the prosecution, the 23-year-old had shipped packages of drugs to buyers in New Zealand, Australia, Croatia, Germany, the United States, Sweden, and other countries. Authorities in the Netherlands intercepted ten packages shipped by the defendant.

The police arrested the man at his house in Bodegraven in May 2019. At the house, authorities found and seized 1861 grams of MDMA; 52 grams of amphetamine; 117 LSD tabs; almost three grams of cocaine; and a “significant number” of ecstasy pills. They also confiscated the defendant’s laptop. The laptop contained evidence that linked the man to two darkweb vendor accounts with a combined total of 611 completed transactions.

Throughout the course of the investigation, authorities seized a total of 2,500 ecstasy pills, more than eight kilograms of MDMA, one kilogram of hashish, 117 LSD tabs, nearly 5,000 grams of amphetamine, more than 50 grams of cocaine, and 100 ml of methamphetamine.

The court will rule on sentencing on June 9.