Reports of a man arrested with $3.5 million worth of drugs are circulating the web. The story is automatically interesting because of the sheer volume of drugs involved. But the additional details of the arrest make the reports all the more intriguing. Here’s what we know.
The Case
This week, police officers in Germany made an arrest and seizure of epic proportions. They arrested a man who, officials say, allegedly ran an international drug smuggling business. According to reports, the police discovered and seized a hefty quantity of narcotics in the man’s apartment. The found substances included cannabis-infused chocolate, cocaine, ecstasy and amphetamines.
The drugs weighed a combined 440 pounds. For those of you using the metric system, that’s a grand total of 200 kilos. Authorities estimate that the drugs would have a street value of $3.5 million, or three million euros.
The man arrested with $3.5 million worth of drugs is a 29-year-old Dutch national. The officers working on the case say that he had been operating his business online from his apartment. He had, allegedly, been working through the darknet.
The Darknet
For those who are not familiar with the term “darknet,” you’re in for a wild ride.
It’s a term used to describe a specific type of overlay network, which is essentially a computer network that has been developed on top of a previously existing network. A darknet is one of these networks, but you need to have specific software or authorizations to access it. It’s important to know that a darknet is not intrinsically shady or malevolent. Some people use them for private file sharing. But at the same time, it’s impossible to ignore the crimes that are committed through darknets. Specifically the sale and purchase of illegal products and services.
The most famous, or infamous, darknet marketplace was called Silk Road. The network allowed people to sell black market goods such as drugs, weapons and fake IDS.
Initially launched in 2011, the Federal Bureau of Investigation shut down Silk Road just two years later. The FBI arrested the founder, Ross William Ulbricht, and a U.S. Federal Court convicted him of a multitude of charges, including computer hacking, conspiracy to traffic narcotics and money laundering.
Silk Road may have been the first darknet market, but it certainly wasn’t the only one. There are quite a few platforms and black market networks on the darknet—that we know of. Most recently, over the summer, the FBI shut down another online black market called AlphaBay, which they say was 10 times larger than Silk Road.
Final Hit: Man Arrested With $3.5 Million Worth Of Drugs
This is an ongoing investigation and therefore, the details available to us are, sadly, limited.
We know that the man arrested with $3.5 million worth of drugs is a Dutch national living in Germany. We also know that he was, allegedly, shipping these aforementioned drugs overseas to the United States, as well as to Australia and Thailand. There may have been other destinations as well. And according to the reports, he had been operating his business through a darknet platform.
Although more information, such as the man’s name, is not yet available to the public, we are incredibly interested in this case. We’ll keep our ears perked for updates as they come out.
