Authorities Arrest Three on a Darknet Drug Trade

The Italian authorities intercepted three kilos of marijuana and other substances ordered from the Darknet within the week.

An investigation coordinated by Nicola Russo led to the arrest of three individuals. Their names were not given by the authorities as investigation were still in progress. However, the information gathered from the arrest revealed that the ages of the arrested traffickers were 19, 22, and 24 years from the cities of Zoppola, Caneva and Pordenone respectively.

The investigation also led to the arrest of a couple who were residents of Cordenons. The lady was released while her boyfriend was still in police custody.

The police searched the home of the couple and discovered three kilos of marijuana and some kilos of heroin. According to the report, scissors and thousands of euros in cash suspected to have been obtained from illegal activities were also seized.

The three young suspects were arrested on September 15 after a warrant was issued to search their homes. The search turned out to be successful when the police discovered two bags of drugs with one already opened and hidden in a refrigerator. The drug was said to be 70 grams of methamphetamine.

The suspects are expected to be prosecuted by the court since evidence has been found against them. One of the suspects was arrested when authorities found him cutting the drugs with potato starch on his dining table. He had packed three bags of methamphetamine before the authorities laid hands on him.

Methamphetamine is a popular drug in Italy, and most of the drug traffickers arrested were in possession of this drug.

For the 23-year-old suspect, authorities found 100 grams of ecstasy tablets on him. Upon an investigation, it was revealed that they bought these drugs through the Darknet.

The police said that investigation is being conducted to find other evidence on their mobile phones. The analysis of the dealer’s smartphone will be open for further investigation since the communication channels are encrypted.

Traffickers order drugs on the Darknet and wait for its delivery to their respective addresses. Most of the carriers unknowingly act as middlemen between the buyers and sellers of this substance on the Darknet.

The Darknet is a hidden marketplace that lies in the heart of the internet converging buyers and sellers to deal in goods and services that are normally identified as illegal.

THE ILLEGAL TRADE CONTINUES TO RISE THOUGH MORE DARKNET USERS ARE ARRESTED

Even though a series of Darknet raids have been launched by the Italian authorities intended to arrest illegal Darknet traders, the activities that happen on the Darknet seem to increase day after day. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime projected that cybercrime which is another kind of Darknet crime will reach $600 billion in 2016. This means there are other large-scale crimes that happen on the Darknet aside from the trade of illegal goods.

The Tor browser which helps to access the Darknet website estimated that 2 million people use it every day.

Other users use the Darknet for their child pornographic activities which are strictly forbidden by law.

Daniel Smith, Radware Security Researcher said to reporters about the frequent report of individuals about breached data and child pornographic alert.

“It’s really up to the user to decide what they report to the authorities or breached companies,” said Smith. “It’s important to report any child pornography-related material to the authorities immediately to avoid legal repercussions from accidentally viewing the abusive material.”

“When you start seeing ads for ‘hard candy,’ you are walking into the danger zone,” he said. “It escalates very quickly.”

Italy has conducted notable successful raids which led to the arrest of dangerous Darknet groups, but Darknet use in the country is still on the rise.

A researcher at the University of California at Berkeley, Nick Weaver said that it will take just one careless act of the user for the authorities to get hold of users: “The cops only have to be lucky once,” Weaver said. “All it takes is one screw up and so that makes it really hard for a dark market drug dealer in the long run. You might be good 99.9 percent of the time but it only takes one mess up.”