Drug bust on the ‘Dark Web’
The Canadian Press – May 31, 2022 / 14:15 | History: 370517
Photo: The Canadian Press
A woman uses a computer keyboard in North Vancouver, BC, on Wednesday, December 19, 2012. Police say three men from Vancouver Island have been arrested for running a drug network on the “dark web. “in Nanaimo, BC, after covert investigation that began in early 2019. THE CANADIAN PRESS / Jonathan Hayward
Police say three men from Vancouver Island have been arrested for allegedly running a “dark web” drug trafficking network in Nanaimo, BC, following a covert investigation that began in early 2019.
An RCMP press release on Tuesday said a vendor called AlwaysOverweight used cryptocurrency and encrypted messaging apps to sell drugs that included methamphetamine, oxycodone, cocaine, MDMA, Xanax and fentanyl that was advertised as heroin.
The RCMP’s organized crime division describes the dark web as the “third hidden layer” of the Internet, under the open web and the deep web, and says it is accessed through special browsers that hide the digital footprint. of users.
Police say he was able to penetrate the criminal group’s “digital barriers” and identified an address in Nanaimo, BC, as the seller’s physical location.
Officers say they confiscated a variety of drugs, packaging, mail envelopes, documents, cash, computers and data storage devices during the searches.
Police say three men were arrested in February 2020 and are scheduled to appear in Nanaimo provincial court on June 7 on charges of trafficking and other crimes.