- A Strike Force Carieville and NSW Crime Commission investigation exposed a big dark net drug ring responsible for over $80 million worth of drug supplies in the last 8 years.
- The bust led to one arrest, a 38 years old man in Thornleigh charged with handling crime proceeds and not complying with digital evidence orders.
- Upon searching a few places in Mount Colah and Wahroonga, police found $35,000 cash, phones and computers, cannabis, and drug paraphernalia.
NSW Police have busted a very large dark web drug operation. Apparently this crew’s been running a whole operation for the past eight years. They already sold illegal drugs worth $80 million over that period of time.
Interestingly, the group were basically one of the heavyweights in the dark web drug trafficking business. Cops already arrested five folks.
Strike Force Carieville Makes Another Arrest
The action comes from Strike Force Carieville, a team set up by the State Crime Command’s Cybercrime Squad. They carried out this bust with the help of the NSW Crime Commission.
Their investigation focused on a large-scale drug supply operation. The group ran it all through the anonymity of the dark net. Police reckon this gang must’ve raked in over $80 million from selling prohibited drugs over the last eight years.
Strike Force detectives and the Raptor Squad made their move on a Tuesday – March 31st – with a pre-dawn raid on a 38 year old bloke in Thornleigh , arresting him at 6:30 in the morning and taking him off to Hornsby Police Station for questioning.
The searches did not stop there. A bit later on the same day, detectives paid a visit to a property on the Pacific Hwy in Wahroonga. What did they turn up? A few electronic devices plus 35,000 US dollars and 20g of prohibited drugs.
Then during another search in Mount Colah at a residential address on Oxley Drive, they seized cannabis and drug paraphernalia.
The digital devices seized in these operations often hold evidence of other crimes, in a separate case in Madisonville, a man was arrested after authorities found child abuse material on his devices, purchased through the dark web, highlighting how the same investigative techniques used to catch drug dealers also help identify predators.
Arrested Suspect and Court Appearance
Authorities have charged the man they arrested to court. He’s currently facing one count of knowingly dealing with crime proceeds. Additionally, they slapped him with three counts of flaunting orders to hand over digital evidence.
They charged the man to court in Hornsby on April 1 and was denied bail. For now, the investigations are still on. Detectives are processing the seized digital gear. They are also following new leads.
A Wider Crackdown on Dark Web Drug Trafficking
This bust is part of a bigger trend. Australian law enforcement has been making serious moves against dark web drug operations.
Take another recent case, for example. Cybercrime Squad detectives arraigned a man that was using the dark web to distribute drugs in February. That investigation, referred to as Strike Force Onoway, started back in September last year.
The user would sell drugs in exchange for cryptocurrency. Then they would send the drugs through the mail. Police officers managed to get their hands on a substantial haul, 168g of crystal meth and 51g of cocaine, during the course of this investigation.
Then on February 3, detectives from the strike force cracked open a house in Seven Hills as part of the investigation, and amongst the things they turned up, along with a stash of this methylamphetamine, cocaine, some marijuana, were electronic devices that were being looked into.
A 55 year old guy was picked up by the police at Concord before charging him with 14 separate counts of peddling in illicit drugs. On top of that they slapped him with two counts of supplying dodgy substances and one count of holding an illicit substance.
He was still in custody at the time and the following day they brought him in to answer the Burwood Local Court. However, he was denied bail. Strike Force Onoway is still investigating.
A close look at these cases together shows a clear pattern. The dark web is no longer able to keep these criminals invisible for long. Authorities are examining the online trails these dark web drug vendors leave behind.
They are building cases to bring online drug dealers to book by following the money trails and tracking the technology keeping these criminals anonymous.
