Dark Net Drug Vendor “Weed24” Busted

Law enforcement authorities in Germany arrested a man from Heidenheim an der Brenz for allegedly running the vendor shop “Weed24” on the darknet selling narcotics to his customers.

This week, the 23-year-old suspect was standing before the Heidenheim District Court for charges, including drug trafficking on the dark web. According to the court documents, the defendant sold drugs on darknet marketplaces under the pseudo name “Weed24”. However, investigators claimed that the 23-year-old not just sold substances on the dark side of the internet, but he also bought one kilogram of amphetamine, ecstasy, and cocaine from a vendor who advertised his “goods” on the darknet.

The investigation revealed that the centerpiece of the mail-order business was a Deutsche Post pack station in Heidenheim. Since the suspect used this packing station exclusively for sending the packages containing narcotics to his customers, police noticed his activities, and this resulted in the arrest of the defendant. Investigators in Bavaria had previously seized the computers of a suspect in another dark net narcotic case, which showed that packages containing illicit substances were delivered 28 times to the pack station, the 23-year-old used for his operation in Heidenheim. Bavarian law enforcement authorities informed a cyber specialist at the Ulm police department, who stated that the orders were placed with the pseudo name “Weed24”. At the same time, the packing station was screened by the police to see who received (or sent) the letters and parcels as “Weed24”. By doing this, law enforcement authorities finally identified the 23-year-old. During the search of his apartment, the investigators found drugs, packaging material, magnetic cards, caffeine, which was used as an extender to the substances he allegedly sold, as well as other devices that fit the profile of a drug trafficker. Law enforcement authorities also found handmade brass knuckles in the defendant’s home. This, along with the products he sold, were photographed by the 23-year-old. Investigators seized the computer of the suspect, where they had found the images and all the messages of the defendant.

According to the 23-year-old’s lawyer, the defendant comes from a good family and “does not want to be criminal at all”. Still, he could not keep his fingers from the dirty business. That is the reason why the suspect was already convicted before the youth chamber of the magistrate’s office. Even then, he used the dark web to source the drugs he consumed, but he also bought a bunch of counterfeit 50 euro notes, which he ordered from the dark web with the intention to put them into circulation. The 23-year-old was sentenced to probation for purchasing the fake euro bills.

However, despite his probation sentence, the defendant apparently still appeared in the world of the dark web. During his court trial, the 23-year-old admitted that he purchased narcotics from “Shiny Flakes”, a 20-year-old from Leipzig who had been already convicted for selling massive amounts of drugs on the darknet. Shiny Flakes, AKA. Maximilian S., when arrested, law enforcement authorities seized 325,000 euros worth in bitcoins, 48,000 euros in cash and 320 kilograms of various drugs, which police estimated to be worth about 4.1 million euros along with another 40 kilograms of drugs that were seized later on. In November 2015, the Leipzig District Court sentenced the vendor to six years and six months in prison.

In the final analysis, police investigators could not come to a solution whether the 23-year-old was selling narcotics under the Weed24 pseudo name on the dark web. To find this out, the court will consult with a cyber specialist, then the judge will try to come to a judgment in a second attempt.

When Shiny Flakes was busted, investigators found a detailed list containing the orders, the substances he sold, and the details of the customers. Since law enforcement authorities are in possession of this list, they have started investigations against the past customers of the convicted vendor.