Two Vendors Busted After Seven “Return to Sender” Failures

Like dozens of now-incarcerated darknet vendors, two new Austrian vendors brought their darknet marketplace career to an abrupt halt after a series of shipping errors. The pair had only listed products on a marketplace in early June and had only fulfilled “nearly” 50 different orders. Had it not been for numerous accidental “return to sender” packages, the duo may have avoided law enforcement contact for some time. A police chief even said their store had since done well.

But, according to Kronen Zeitung, both suspects were “known in the scene.” They had both suffered from drug addiction. One, a 24-year-old, already had a criminal history. And the second, a 22-year-old, got caught with drugs at the Vienna Schwechat Airport. The police may have caught them sooner rather than later, regardless of the stamp issue. Regardless, Chief Inspector Rupert Ortner said “the business went well,” and added to they had made 2,000 or more euros in the month of June.

The two sold ecstasy, LSD, speed paste and MDMA. And prior to the arrest, they promised that “2CB pills would be available for sale soon.” And that they would be available for delivery to Austria within three days. That never happened.

Not long after they had set up shop, a company from the Upper Austrian town of Ried im Innkreis reported the first seven failed shipments to the police. They had discovered that one of the letters that had been shipped under the company’s name and that had contained ecstasy. The duo then did it again; they shipped six more packages with the company’s information. That time, investigators pulled video feed and identified either one or both suspects.

The LKA then took the case over. With the confirmation that the pair had sent drug shipments, an extensive investigation followed. During the course of the investigation, the officials of the LKA Oberösterreich obtained enough evidence to get a search warrant for the duo’s house. “Concrete evidence,” they called it.

While executing the search warrant, LKA Oberösterreich investigators discovered more “concrete evidence” that they had correctly identified the suspects. They found a laptop that connected the two to a darknet marketplace versus account. They found scales and shipping supplies. In the cellar, officers found a fully functioning grow operation. The plants, according to the LKA, were halfway finished growing.

The overwhelming evidence against the couple allowed the LKA to arrest them at the house itself. One suspect, the 24-year-old, was transferred to the Ried im Innkreis Justice Center. The courts let the 22-year-old remain a free entity “because she was [ten weeks] pregnant.”