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PT Four men from Brunssum were arrested Tuesday for trafficking drugs through the darkweb, a protected part of the Internet. They made and sent mainly xtc by mail to customers in various countries around the world.
The gang was active in a dozen locations in Limburg, dealing not only in drugs but also in bitcoins. The men aged 24, 27, 35 and 53 are also suspected of money laundering.
Searches
Seventy people from various agencies were involved in the arrests. They searched ten locations. There, dozens of bags containing a total of tens of thousands of pills, several kilograms of hash and weed and a quantity of money, heroin and cocaine were found. The drugs were destroyed. A production line for synthetic drugs was also busted.
The suspects will be arraigned Friday before the examining magistrate in Rotterdam. The investigation began after PostNL discovered packages containing drugs during an inspection last year.
Collaboration
The action and investigation involved not only the National Prosecutor's Office, but also the Functional Prosecutor's Office, the National Police Unit, the Fiod, the Tax Authority, the Ministry of Defense and the security department of PostNL. Specialists from the Ministry of Defense searched for hidden rooms.
The FIOD is further investigating the bitcoin trade and the (criminal) income of suspects. During the investigation, several shipments were intercepted. This probably caused buyers to complain after which the account of the main suspect was (temporarily) removed from the marketplace, the investigation team discovered.
Darkweb
The darkweb is part of the Internet, but the websites are not findable by search engines. Among other things, they provide space for black markets for drugs and child pornography. A well-known example of a darkmarket was the Hansa Market, which was "taken over" and taken offline by the police and judiciary in the Netherlands in 2017. At the time, the illegal market was one of the most popular on the anonymous darkweb.