DARKNET DRUG OPERATION UNCOVERED
11-07-2018 -
A 26-year-old French national was arrested and charged today in Sydney for his alleged role in a European syndicate suspected of using tourists, including students and backpackers, to distribute illegal drugs imported from France.
Over a six-month period, a joint Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Australian Border Force (ABF) operation has intercepted about 40 packages of MDMA and cocaine linked to the syndicate. The drugs, which have an estimated value of up to AUD 3.3 million, were hidden in wine bottles, potato chip packets and chilli paste that were either packed in luggage or sent via the post.
The operation has now resulted in three French nationals and one Belgian national being arrested and charged for their role in the syndicate since March 2018.
NSW Police have also arrested and charged eight people, including students and backpackers, for their role in trafficking the drugs. See related media here.
AFP Detective Superintendent Paul Hopkins said the operation demonstrates the AFP and ABF’s shared commitment to stopping harmful drugs from reaching the Australian community.
“With about 40 packages of MDMA and cocaine seized, each ranging from 100gms to more than 200gms, this has been a complex and unique investigation,” Detective Superintendent Hopkins said.
“Together, these packages equate to a large commercial amount of illegal drugs that we know would have had significant and tragic impacts on individuals, families and whole communities.”
ABF Commander Investigations, Graeme Grosse, said the operation highlights the measures criminals use to import illegal drugs.
“The creative and ever-changing methods used by criminals to import drugs speak to the worrying demand for them in Australia. It also makes it clear stopping the inflow of drugs into our country is a whole-of-community issue, not just one for authorities to tackle,” Commander Grosse said.
“We hope this operation sends a message, if you’re thinking of buying, selling or transporting illicit drugs, the penalties are severe and it’s simply not worth the risk – we will catch you.”
The 26-year-old French national will attend Sydney Central Court this afternoon and face multiple charges of:
• Aid and abet, counsel or procure the importation of a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug – contrary to sub-sections 11.2(1) and 307.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
The maximum penalty for these offences is life imprisonment or 7,500 penalty units, or both.
Two other French nationals, a man and a woman, and a Belgian man were arrested in Melbourne during 9-12 March 2018 in relation to the importation of 750gms of MDMA, valued at up to AUD 280,000, concealed in wine bottles. These people are currently remanded in custody to appear at Melbourne Magistrates Court on Monday 16 July 2018 where they will face the following charges:
• Import a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug – contrary to section 307.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth);
• Aid and abet, counsel or procure the importation of a commercial quantity of a border controlled drug – contrary to sub-sections 11.2(1) and 307.1(1) of the Criminal Code (Cth); and
• Deal with money or other property reasonably suspected of being the proceeds of Crime - contrary to section 400.9(1A) of the Criminal Code (Cth).
CREDIT ABF/CUSTOMS
NSWGREAT Number one on Federal police most wanted dark net dealers
NSWGreat is a drug dealer. But you won’t find him on the street. He’s making his fortune by selling anonymously, behind a computer screen.
Inspired by people such as Ross William Ulbricht, the now jailed founder of the infamous Silk Road, the dealer has been selling drugs to Australians on the dark web for six years.
He’s one of many dark web drug dealers — or vendors as they call themselves — who are offering product to Australians who believe (incorrectly) that drugs bought online are somehow ‘safer’ than those bought on the street.
His website looks a lot like a legitimate eCommerce site, where customers can order a vast array of illegal goods to be sent directly to their letterbox, c/o Australia Post.
The difference between NSWGreat and most other dark net vendors is that he’s more willing to talk. And talk he has.
Over a series of conversations through the secure texting service Wickr, NSWGreat revealed that he’s been peddling drugs on the dark net for over six years.
After starting out as a staff member on the now-defunct Silk Road 2.0, NSWGreat noticed a need for skilful dealers and not long after, “graduated” to an individual seller. NSWGreat runs a store on each of the most-frequented marketplaces, and boasts staff members all over the country.
Unashamedly, he admits: “I was quite inspired by Breaking Bad, that an intellect is able to be successful in the drug game.”
NSWGreat and his team of ghosts import substances from overseas for his rotating product line. He’s “smuggled” inordinate amounts illegal drugs, and his users have given him a high rating.But while NSWGreat may be basking in his ‘success’ right now, the AFP are confident they will bring him, and other similar drug dealers down one day.
A spokesman from the agency told news.com.au: “If Australians are using the dark web to conceal criminal activity, your anonymity is not guaranteed and you are not outside the reach of law enforcement.”
But that threat isn’t stopping NSWGreat from continuing his operation.
Profit is, of course, his primary motivation.
He claims to live “on a salary similar to that of a CEO with much less work and definitely a lot more enjoyment.”, which beckons the question: why he doesn’t retire while he’s ahead?
It would seem he has no such plans. “ … the lifestyle and thrill of being a drug smuggler is addictive”, he admits.
In addition to the easy cash, he enjoys chewing the fat with customers about their lives, their addictions, and the ramifications of their drug use. He spends hours scouring case studies — researching substances that he then imports, sells, and even consumes.
He justifies the continuation of his business by claiming he’s contributing to society, citing the fact that recreational drug users are a large subculture and part of “the Australian way of life”.
Whichever way NSWGreat chooses to frame his behaviour, there’s no denying that he’s an internationally wanted fugitive.
Through Reddit and email, he’s received subpoenas from overseas bodies such as Department of Homeland Security, Interpol, Europol, FBI, and the Secret Service. While other dark web dealers have been arrested in recent years, NSWGreat is brazen in his belief he won’t be caught.
“I’m confident in my ability to stay anonymous as NSWGreat.”Perhaps he remains somewhat cocky due to the authorities’ continuing struggles when tracking both prominent dark net vendors and their customers. This frustration was confirmed by an AFP spokesman who told news.com.au: “The robust encryption technologies used by dark net marketplace vendors and customers present difficulties for law enforcement.”
They confirmed one of their major difficulties was that “cryptocurrencies used on dark net marketplaces operate outside the traditional financial systems and require specialised software and expertise to analyse transactions.” In other words, this is still relatively new and bumpy terrain for the AFP.
This isn’t to say they can’t claim successes. In 2013, they located and arrested Peter Nash, an Australian-based administrator of Silk Road. In 2016, they were a part of a co-ordinated global effort that saw numerous Australian dark net dealers charged, as well as the seizure of drugs including MDMA, steroids, cannabis, opium, cocaine and methylamphetamine.
Since the AFP National Forensic Rapid Lab (NFRL) was established in 2013, over 15,000 packages containing over 2.5 tons of illicit drugs have been taken out of rotation.
When I asked NSWGreat whether he had a message for Australian law enforcement, he quickly separated himself from offline dealers and offers the following advice: “Focus your resources on the methamphetamine epidemic and continue to suppress biker clubs on the street. They are second-class citizens and deserve the wrath of justice.”A common belief held by those on both sides of the virtual checkout is that dark net marketplaces guarantee the user a much higher degree of safety than that of the wider world.
A customer can access detailed feedback from others who’ve tried and tested each product, and most vendors go out of their way to ensure their ratings remain high — even reshipping lost packages or compensating for user dissatisfaction.
Not only that, but users can score their drugs behind the protection of a VPN (Virtual Private Network) eliminating the need to interact with criminals face-to-face.
While the second part might be true, the AFP myth busts the first:
“Analysis highlights that there is minimal differences observed between drugs suspected to be sourced via dark net marketplace and those sourced via more ‘traditional’ means”, the AFP said. “Regardless of where drugs are sourced from, they have the potential to cause serious harm and even death.”
When asked if he’s a good person, NSWGreat says, “Yes”.
“I have morals and I do my best to be honest. I had a good upbringing and in hindsight understand when I’ve made poor decisions,” he said. “Most of my lapses in judgment are drug induced. Sober NSWGreat is generally a good person, but there is always a yin for a yang.”
As for the trajectory his life has taken, NSWGreat wears it proudly. “It has been a once in a lifetime experience. I’ve met a lot of interesting people, distributed millions in product annually to tens of thousands of fellow Australians,” he said.
I have no idea who NSWGreat might be. I don’t know his age, or ethnicity, or whether he’s really a he, or even if he’s more than one person.
From wherever in the country NSWGreat connects to his VPN, he ends the conversation with an celebratory phrase that’s just as concerning to parents and cops as it is comforting to vendors and users: “Long live the dark net.”
Time will only tell for how long.
Credit Jeremy Cassar.
How Europe deals with the dark web
When I visited the dark web for the first time some years ago — for a story I was working on, not to treat myself to some crack cocaine — I remember users constantly reassuring each other how truly anonymous it was. “The FBI does not have a prayer of a chance of finding out who is who,” was how someone put it in one of Bitcoin‘s forums in June 2013.
A misconception, of course. While it’s true that the owners of Bitcoin addresses are supposed to be anonymous, the transactions are public for everyone to see. So once you know the person behind the address, illicit transactions can easily be traced back to the buyer or seller. Think of it as writing under a pseudonym; your privacy is protected until someone doxes you.
In some cases, this is as easy as doing a bit of Googling — more or less. Earlier this year, Qatari researchers crawled 1,500 hidden services, five billion tweets, and one million BitcoinTalk forum pages. They collected 88 unique Bitcoin addresses, and about 45,000 wallet IDs. In many cases, these online identities could be easily linked to real email addresses, social media accounts and sometimes even home addresses.
When I ask police officer and dark web specialist Nan van de Coevering about this method to track criminals on the dark web, she bursts out laughing. “I wish it was that easy. Trust me, there’s a lot more to it than putting some nicknames in Google.”
Van de Coevering became head of the Dutch police’s dark web division in early 2017, about six months before her team would pull off one the biggest tech operations in the organization’s history: the takeover of dark web marketplace Hansa Market.
Back then, in June 2017, Hansa Market was one of the bigger marketplaces selling mostly illegal products. The police’s High Tech Crime Team had received a tip in 2016 that led them to the website’s server location, which was in Lithuania at the time of the take-over.
This was the game plan for “Operation Bayonet”: Programmers had built an exact copy of Hansa Market. They would take down the real version and immediately push their own copy live, so buyers and sellers wouldn’t notice anything was wrong. But because the website would be fully controlled by the police, they could monitor everything that went on from that moment onwards.
“We only had a few minutes of downtime,” remembers Van de Coevering. “But it felt like forever.”
The takeover operation took place in their headquarters in Driebergen, where we are meeting today. “We were all crammed in this tiny room: Nine programmers working frantically to get the website up as soon as possible, the rest of us there for support. It was one of the best nights of my career, but also one of the most nerve-wracking.”
Everything went according to plan. For 27 days, every transaction on Hansa Market was visible to Van de Coevering and her team. The website received about 1000 orders every day. “The international data was passed on to Europol,” says Van de Coevering. The data derived from Dutch trades on the platform, about 500 that month, were collected for further research.
The reason the Hansa Market operation focused mostly on the drug trade, as opposed to, say, child abuse imagery, was politically motivated to some extent, says Van de Coevering. “Drugs produced in the Netherlands have the dubious honor of being internationally recognized for their high quality and many suppliers are located here.”
“Catching the big guys — the vendors and admins — was our main priority,” says Van de Coevering. About a dozen of the site’s top drug dealers were arrested soon after the takeover, others are still under investigation. The police confiscated millions of dollars of bitcoin as well.
Buyers weren’t off the hook either. A few months after the infiltration, the police engaged in a “knock and talk” operation where they confronted 37 Dutch people with their drugs purchases on Hansa Market. One of them turned out to have ordered 150 ecstasy pills and was taken into custody, the rest was let off with a warning. “We want people to know they’re not anonymous on the dark web. We are there too and we see you.”
So how did the Dutch police know on which doors to knock? Several methods are used to link personal identities to crypto transactions, says Van de Coevering. Like the Qatari researchers, her team crawls Open Source Intelligence (OSINT) sources to find matches. These sources can be social media profiles, internal criminal activity databases, public registers and even online newspaper articles, she says. “Once you have an electronic address, identifying a dark web criminal isn’t that different from traditional police work. It’s mostly digging and connecting dots.”
Regulated cryptocurrency exchanges — generally those in the US or Europe— can also be of service here. Because they are legally bound by “know your customer” policies and anti-money laundering rules, users can only register upon handing over identification.
How long it takes to find dark web criminals largely depends on how well they’ve covered their tracks. Often an escrow service is used, meaning transactions are not done directly but through an intermediary. Other times, buyers use a crypto tumbler (also known as a mixer).
This service obscures crypto payments by mixing them up with other payments. Or traders use software to convert “dirty” coins that are relatively easy to trace, like bitcoin, into more anonymous coins like Monero. Think of it as the crypto version of money laundering.
The Dark Web team frequently uses software by Chainalysis, a company that specializes in forensic analysis of virtual currencies. This program leverages machine learning to detect clusters of entities in the blockchain, some of which may be involved in criminal activities. When there are several addresses behind the same transaction, this could indicate one person is securing smaller funds into one bigger pot. Another suspicious pattern occurs when change from a bitcoin transaction is sent to a different account than where the payment originated from.
In the past, Chainalysis’ software mainly focused its forensic work on one blockchain: the one that belongs to Bitcoin. When the company was founded in 2014, bitcoin was still an important coin of choice for dark web users. But crypto crime is rapidly changing and the share of bitcoin transactions sent to darknet markets has declined from 30 percent in 2012 to less than 1 percent in 2017.
“We have seen new kinds of crime popping up,” says Chainalysis CEO Michael Gronager. “Ransomware attacks, which have been more frequent over the past few years, often require payment in bitcoin.”
Gronager and his team are currently looking into adding new virtual currencies, probably starting with the bigger ones: Ethereum and LiteCoin. The more anonymous coins that are popular among criminals, like Monero and Zcash, might be added at some point but are not on the roadmap right now.
Which brings us to the more frustrating part of modern-day police work: There will always be new virtual coins to be used, new ways to hide illegal activities. Van de Coevering realizes she faces an uphill battle. “The dark web isn’t going away. Just like crypto crime will only become bigger.”
Operation Bayonet delivered a big blow to underground markets, specifically because it was coordinated with the takeover of an even bigger marketplace: AlphaBay. And the effect wasn’t just visible in those two marketplaces, researchers from Dutch research institute TNO discovered. They looked into Dream Market, where many AlphaBay and Hansa Market“refugees” migrated to after the takedowns. Data revealed that almost half of these vendors had failed to take evasive action like changing usernames or PGP setups. In other words, the takeover of Hansa Market seems to be a gift that keeps on giving.
Criminal communities are still thriving on the dark web, though. New markets have popped up, as well as new types of cybercrime. For the Dutch police, that means the organization needs to keep evolving and innovating. “We no longer just need good detectives,” says Van de Coevering. “We need people from various backgrounds: programmers, financial analysts, and cryptographers.”
Being self-taught, she’s a telling example of this new type of officer. “I still can’t write one line of code but I do fully understand how the blockchain works — a concept I had never heard about a few years ago. And if I can, so can you. All it takes is some time and a curious mind.”
Now that much crime has gone digital, the Dutch police need tech talent more than ever. Check out the various tech jobs they have to offer.
Credit Dutch police
Is this why Elon hasn’t been pushed out by big oil
A former Tesla employee today filed a formal complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging the automaker failed to disclose to shareholders a drug trafficking operation run out of its Nevada Gigafactory.
Filed by Karl Hansen, a former member of Tesla’s internal security and investigations division, the complaint levied accusations of at least one employee dealing “substantial” amounts of cocaine, and possibly methamphetamine.
A former Tesla employee today filed a formal complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission alleging the automaker failed to disclose to shareholders a drug trafficking operation run out of its Nevada Gigafactory.
Filed by Karl Hansen, a former member of Tesla’s internal security and investigations division, the complaint levied accusations of at least one employee dealing “substantial” amounts of cocaine, and possibly methamphetamine.
I call bullshit as Elon made his cash from PayPal.
Remember this guy
THE analogy I like to use for the dark net is that it’s “a whole other internet underneath our internet”.
It’s an internet that doesn’t recognise the law of any government or governing body. It’s the one that Edward Snowden and Julian Assange use to communicate with journalists. And the one where any Joe Bloggs can hire a hitman at a dark net marketplace and grab an ounce of coke on his way out.
Its most famous marketplace, Silk Road, might have been shut down in 2013 and its founder Ross Ulbricht given a life sentence without parole, but three years later, even more markets have sprung up in its place.
THE END. OF NOTHING.
As a journalist I’ve been fascinated with the darker parts of the internet for a while. And by June of this year, I’d followed the security protocol to gain the status of “new member” on one of the highest-rated, most-frequented markets on the dark net, one that offers a freakish array of illegal substances from vendors from all over the globe, as well as weapons, fraud elements, counterfeit goods, and digital items (but strictly no taboo porn, unlike other markets).
Up until this day I’ve never been able to bring myself to click on any link but “drugs and chemicals”.
This particular market is on the higher end, resembling Amazon or eBay, and complete with advanced category search, detailed product information, vendor ratings based on (almost universally civil) user feedback, refund policies, shipping estimates and options, and even funds held over in escrow until the product is delivered.
The market retains support staff, mediators and monitors, and private messages can be sent between buyers and market staff, and between buyers and sellers, or as they’re known throughout the marketplace — vendors.
The private message tab was too inviting to ignore.
MEET AUSKING
After contacting a variety of vendors, it was the seller deemed least likely to even reply to my message that ended up speaking out.
Ausking, one of the largest vendors of illegal substances in Australia, runs a branch of their store on multiple dark net markets including the one I’d joined, shipping everything from weed to ice to “China White” heroin, worldwide.
Ausking boasts a perfect reputation — 10 out of a possible 10 when it comes to trust and quality, according to his reviews. For Aussies, they promise NDD (next day delivery) if the buyer’s address is located within the Australia Post express post zone, and their packaging is comprised of vacuum-sealed plastic and mylar bags (which are made x-ray and sniff-proof by what is essentially a layer of flexible metal).
As if we weren’t talking about illegal drugs, I asked how they achieved such an impeccable reputation, and they put it down to “honesty, integrity, quality and hard work”. An answer that many of us would find a bit contradictory, considering the fact that they are criminals by law.Reminding myself that I’m not merely talking to the owner of a furniture shop, and that Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, was involved in an attempted assassination (by unknowingly hiring an undercover detective to do the hit), I asked about the relationship between violence and vendors in Australia.
“There is no violence involved in our business. It’s not needed nor is it wanted by anyone. All you need to do is watch the news and you will see shootings on a weekly basis, this all links back to non-dark net drug deals. The dark net creates the safest environment for users and sellers.”
That’s easy for Ausking to say, but I wondered how they felt about the fact that these vendors can set up shop on the same virtual street that offers violent services and underage pornography.
“In general these dark net sites do not allow these things you speak of. There are sick individuals out there but they are not accepted on dark markets nor the forums we drug vendors are on.
“I think if you look at the way we operate you can see we are not these sick people. We are nonviolent and we hate with a passion these sick individuals.”
PROFITS? WHAT ABOUT SAFETY?
In the case of Ausking, their profits come from substances like pure Afghan heroin. And they’re making big money.
“As we are currently one of the largest and most trusted companies serving customers on the dark net today, we would expect to grow into a Fortune 500 company in Australia as these substances are legalised.”
I asked if they ever worried about what happens to the buyer (who in most cases is also the user), at the other end.
“Yes of course, we offer users warnings on dangerous drugs and advise them to take care. Now weed is becoming accepted but this is just the beginning of a right slowly being restored to the people. No drug should be taken without knowledge of what you are taking and how much you can safely take.”
“If your sister/brother is going to take drugs and there was nothing you could do about it would you want her trying to find a dealer on the street where she has zero feedback on what she is taking other than from the seller, or would you rather her buy from an online vendor with outstanding feedback and user reviews on the drug?”
The parents of Daniel Skelly, who died in 2014 after buying synthetic drugs from the dark net (from an unknown retailer), would no doubt disagree.
But by now, it was clear I was talking to a representative of a business that’s hyper conscious of promoting itself, as if trained to keep PR in mind at all times when interacting with the public. I wondered about their relationship with libertarianism.
“People should have the right to use substances when not harming others. We are allowed to get intoxicated/high on what we are told is okay by the government (at the time — remember alcohol was once illegal and weed is now legal in many places), even though there is often greater side effects from legal drugs. Why is it a crime to use another type of drug? If you look into this you will see the reasons behind drugs being made illegal would be laughed at by everyone with a right mind in this day.
“If the war on drugs were stopped and drugs were legalised, cartels and violent drug gangs would vanish over night as legitimate companies would replace them (think of the tax revenue), with all this extra money now free from the drug war they could educate people and look into the issues as to why some people abuse drugs more than others. How many lives would be saved over night?”
And to those with the blanket belief that anyone who sells on a dark net market is evil?
“These people are very narrow-minded and might as well be racists painting it all with one brush. If they opened their minds to the world and had a look at the people in it from all walks of life they would find good, grey and evil.”
Finally, I wanted to know where all this was heading. Pockets of our world are implementing the decriminalisation or even legalisation of some or all substances, tackling drug addiction as a health/social problem rather than a crime, but to me it doesn’t seem like the “for” camp will ever totally sway the “against”, or vice versa.
I asked how shifting tides would affect Ausking’s seemingly thriving business, and dark net markets in general.
“This is a hard one, dark markets will provide for places that legalisation is not yet through. They will one day not be selling drugs at all if this happens and the war will be won! We work extremely hard to run our business as if it is a legal one, while still covering ourselves from prosecution.”
“While this is hard, we do a pretty damn good job of it, delivering an experience akin to dealing with a very large and professional legal business. The day it becomes legal will open up a world of opportunities to further improve the professionalism of our company.”
TWO CENTS FROM A FORMER ADDICT
I’m a former long-time user of a hard substance, and I was raised with nothing but scare tactics when it comes to drugs.
I can’t say I agree with Ausking, but if this market and its accompanying forum was around back-in-the-day, at least I would have been more educated on what I was taking, and therefore less likely to unnecessarily endanger myself with an unknown product, and saved myself many a scary moment.
But on the other hand, I’d also have access to anything and everything under the sun from behind the unreality of my laptop.
Sure, I wasted months worth of hours sitting in my car waiting to score or travelling to God-knows-where only to return home empty-handed, but a dark net market could have sent me down paths I wouldn’t even think to broach in real life.
And as I’m a former addict, any talk of profiteering from certain substances, whether legal or illegal, leaves me a little queasy.
What Ausking and I (and most of the medical community) do agree on is that the war on drugs was an astounding failure devised by people who knowingly contributed to the stigma of drug addiction just so they could hunt down a few bad guys, who were only quickly replaced by other bad guys.
Sure, there are some evil people profiting from selling illicit substances, but the demand for these drugs lies within the wounded spirit of the addict — and the stigma only digs its finger into that wound, making it harder for them to seek help, to grow educated away from the propaganda on either side, and to eventually clean up, see themselves as worthy, and become defined by something new.
Credit Jeremy Cassar
Alphabay founder found dead in Thai jail cell
A Quebec man, 25, is said to be the kingpin of a massive website selling illegal drugs, stolen credit cards and fake IDs. He was found dead in a Thai jail cell just before his extradition hearing. American authorities were after the man for years, and it appears he got caught after a trip home to Canada to visit his parents. Mike Armstrong explains.BANGKOK – The neighbours had their suspicions.
The young Canadian accused of masterminding the world’s leading “darknet” internet marketplace lived a seemingly quiet life for more than a year with his Thai girlfriend in a middle-class neighbourhood on the outskirts of Bangkok.
But the flashy cars he drove stood out.
There was the nearly $1 million, metallic grey Lamborghini. There was the Porsche, and then the Mini Cooper for his girlfriend. All in an area where people drive pickup trucks and children tool around on plastic tricyclesThe neighbours thought 25-year-old Alexandre Cazes worked in the hotel business. But according to the U.S. Justice Department, he was the mastermind of AlphaBay, an internet marketplace that traded in illegal drugs, firearms and counterfeit goods.
By the time authorities closed in on July 5, Cazes had amassed a $23 million fortune as the site’s creator and administrator, court documents show.On Thursday, U.S. Justice Department officials gave details of the global police operation that brought down Cazes, who reportedly hanged himself in his Thai jail cell a week after his arrest, and dealt a serious blow to illicit internet commerce.Interviews with Cazes’ neighbours paint a picture of a young man who displayed flashes of ostentation but otherwise seemed unassuming.
“He was with his girlfriend,” said a neighbour, Hassanupong Pootrakulchote. “Around New Year’s or Christmas I saw some of his friends come over and they would have a little party. There were Thai people, some of them were his girlfriend’s relatives … Other than that it’s mostly quiet, nothing flashy or anything.”
Nothing except those expensive cars, which were completely out of place in the neighbourhood where homes cost less than $120,000.Why does he have a Lamborghini? Why does he have a Porsche or Mini Cooper?” Hassanupong said. “There are recent news reports about people laundering money and that sort of thing. But like I said, I thought he was in the hotel business.”
Soon enough, talk in the neighbourhood was that Cazes was ready to improve his standard of living.
At the time of his arrest, he was building a palatial home about 20 minutes away in a far more upscale area. The price tag? More than $1.1 million.
According to court documents, he also owned a luxury villa on the edge of a cliff in the holiday destination of Phuket and a $400,000 villa in Antigua.
Much of Cazes’ fortune was in digital currencies, the court documents show. He bought real estate and luxury cars, including the $900,000 Lamborghini, and pursued “economic citizenship” in Liechtenstein, Cyprus and Thailand.He used what he claimed was a web design company, EBX Technologies, as a front, the indictment said.
But his life in the Bangkok suburbs appeared stable, neighbours said.
One neighbour, who asked not to be named because the case involves crime, said Cazes rarely left the house before noon. She said she got her first good look at him one day when was outside, trying to photograph a monitor lizard that had crawled out of a deserted field nearby.
“We smiled at each other, that’s it,” she said.
Darknet websites have thrived since the 2011 appearance of the Silk Road bazaar, which was taken down two years later. Merchants and buyers keep their identities secret by using encrypted communications and anonymity-providing tools such as the Tor browser. The darknet itself is only accessible through such specialized apps.
Cazes’ own carelessness apparently tripped him up — not the underlying security technology AlphaBay used.
According to the indictment, he accidentally broadcast his personal Hotmail address in welcome messages sent to new users. And when he was tracked down and arrested in Thailand, Cazes was logged into the AlphaBay website as its administrator, allowing investigators access to passwords and other information, it says.Cazes also used the same personal email address — “pimp_alex-91@hotmail.com — on a PayPal account.
Cherry flavour gunrunner caught in Los Angeles sentenced to 33 months jail.
Los Angeles: A member of a US dark web gun trafficking group that hid firearms in electronics products and sent them to customers in Australia and other parts of the world has been sentenced to almost three years jail.
Gerren Johnson, 29, was arrested after an international investigation.
The Atlanta-based group advertised guns for sale on the underground website BlackMarketReloaded that operated on The Onion Router, which masks the identity of its users, according to prosecutors.Their vendor page on the site was named Cherry_Flavor and guns for sale included Glock pistols for $US2300 to $US3400.
Authorities said the group sold approximately 10 to 15 firearms a month and 31 firearms were recovered internationally or seized by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and US Postal Inspection Service before leaving the US.
"According to ATF, firearms were recovered in Canada, the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Germany, Australia, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Zambia," US prosecutors wrote in their sentencing memorandum.
Authorities also linked Johnson to an Armitage International Model Scarab Scorpion 9mm pistol that was recovered in the Netherlands and a Glock Model 17 Gen 4 9mm pistol destined for France.
In an attempt to avoid detection in the US Post or overseas the group hid the firearms in electronic equipment before placing them in packages.
Johnson entered a guilty plea to a smuggling charge in the US District Court in Georgia and was sentenced on Thursday to 33 months' jail.
