Austrian Sentenced For Narcotics Trafficking

A 20-year-old from Amstetten, Austria was sentenced for ordering drugs from the dark net.

According to document at the St. Pölten Regional Court, the defendant purchased speed, cannabis, hash, ecstasy, and LSD from the dark web. At first, he only ordered the narcotics for his own consumption, however, later on, he started to sell them.

“It was really crap, what I did,” the 20-year-old said in remorse. “I had a lot of stress at work, it was too much, I was done. That is why I have consumed speed. That distracted me. Then I took it daily.”

The defendant admitted his crimes. He confessed that he ordered the narcotics from vendors residing in the Netherlands and that he learned how to place orders from the dark net from information he found on the internet.

“Sad and unbelievable, everyone can do it,” the judge said.

For a long time, the 20-year-old only purchased drugs for his own consumption, court documents say. Later on, the suspect had a financial crisis, that’s why he started trafficking narcotics.

“My car was broken, the repair costs high. That’s why I started selling,” the defendant said.

Through the trade, the 20-year-old earned 7,800 euros in profits. When the judge asked him, the suspect told the court that he “spent everything”. Law enforcement authorities discovered the illegal activities of the 20-year-old when the customs intercepted a narcotics package. During the house search, police found different kinds of drugs.

Since the defendant has no criminal record, the judge sentenced him to six months of conditional prison (not legally binding). Additionally, the money he made from drug trafficking should be paid back to the state.

“Because crimes cannot be worth it, the lucrative money belongs to the state,” the judge said.

At the end of last year, an 18-year-old from Amstetten (the same city as the current case) was sentenced to 15 months in prison for purchasing narcotics and counterfeit notes from the dark web. The suspect was addicted to drugs from the age of 14, the court heard. He ordered narcotics from the dark net to finance his own addictions. The defendant purchased drugs from vendors based in Poland and the Netherlands. After the packages arrived, he sold part of the substances to his customers.

In June, law enforcement authorities raided the home of the suspect. Patrick Hinterleitner from the St. Pöltner’s Prosecutor’s Office stated that the accused resisted fiercely during the home search. The 18-year-old tried to prevent police from finding the narcotics in his apartment. He threatened an officer and kicked another in the leg.

Law enforcement authorities found a mailbox key at the man’s home. When they opened it at the post office, they found various narcotics and 20 pieces of counterfeit five euro notes. Prosecutors accused the 18-year-old of selling the counterfeit money for profit, however, the defendant denied that claim. The Amstetten man confessed before juvenile judge Markus Grünberger that he bought 20 pieces of euro notes, but the 18-year-old said he only purchased them for “viewing”, not to use or sell them.

The judge sentenced the suspect for 15 months in prison. According to the judge, the reason for the long sentence was to keep the accused clean from addiction and crime.