German authorities from Neubrandenburg have apprehended a German national on allegations of reportedly reselling a large consignment of banned drugs he procured from the dark web.
Criminal Police Inspection agents executed an investigation into the suspect’s activities after law enforcement got wind of suspicious activity. The officers learnt about the 32-year-old suspect’s activities that involved the sale of illicit substances and managed to unearth the true scale of the operation.
According to law enforcement records, the suspect had made huge orders of amphetamine on a dark web market with the intention of reselling them across Germany. It turns out that the drugs had been paid for using crypto, which qualifies as the currency of choice for people looking to circumvent law enforcement discovery.
An investigation into the suspect’s activity led to the law enforcement interception and seizure of drug parcels that had about half a kilo of amphetamine. The packages were reportedly addressed to the suspect’s home.
The police confiscated a suspicious drug package on May 12, which was found to have been addressed to the 32-year-old suspect. On inspection, the authorities discovered 100 grams of amphetamine.
Law enforcement agents went further to reveal that the suspect had obtained more than a kilogram of amphetamine from unidentified dark web platforms in the course of his drug trafficking career.
According to a German-language press release, the Neubrandenburg Criminal Police Inspection sought a warrant of arrest from the city’s public prosecutor’s office. The law enforcement agents acted on the arrest warrant on the same day and apprehended the suspect.
German authorities have confirmed that investigations are still ongoing.
Amphetamine in Germany
Amphetamine use in Germany, which is closely associated with methamphetamine consumption, has placed Germany on high ranks in European drug consumption indices for a while.
According to 2019 reports, three German cities were ranked top 11 for amphetamine consumption in Europe. The southwestern city of Saarbrücken was top of the list with figures standing at 407.4mg per 1000 people per day, a number that was significantly higher than 2017 findings.
Dortmund came in at the tenth position with researchers reporting 149.2mg per 1000 people per day, while Berlin City claimed eleventh place with 144.3 mg.
Point to note, both methamphetamine and amphetamine are consumed orally or nasally, with European authorities noting that users in some countries have always preferred to administer the drug via injection.
Expert data shows that about 12.5 million people in Europe have consumed amphetamines at some point in their adult lives, with figures indicating that about 1.3 million people used the drug in 2019.
German Anti-Dark Web Law Enforcement Efforts
The above findings have reflected on the marked German law enforcement enthusiasm in dismantling dark web drug networks and arresting their masterminds.
Not too long ago, German authorities led a well-coordinated international operation to shut the world’s largest darknet platform in January 2021. Apart from German law enforcement, the operation was facilitated by Australia, Denmark, Moldova, Ukraine, UK, and the United States.
At its peak, DarkMarket had grown to a half a million-strong user base that accessed illicit drugs like amphetamine, and other banned products and services – including anonymous SIM cards, fake currency, malicious software, hacking services, and stolen identities.
At the height of investigations, the Central Criminal Investigation Department of in Germany’s Oldenburg City apprehended an Australian nation that was alleged to have operated the illicit site from servers located at the German-Danish border.
The cybercrime unit of the Koblenz Public Prosecutor’s Office led the law enforcement partners in locating and shutting DarkMarket, closing the servers and confiscating criminal hardware.
Consequently, about 20 servers in Moldova and Ukraine were identified and seized pending further investigations.
