Indian authorities arrest their first crypto dark web drug dealer

In an investigation done by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), India has caught its first darknet crypto drug dealer. The authorities have seized 55,000 tablets in the arrest. The NCB participated in “Operation Trance” - a multinational crackdown on illicit dark web drug sales using couriers, international postal services, and private parcel deliveries.

Global post offices and international courier services were used as logistics for illicit trade. The payments gateways of cryptocurrency were used by the operators to conceal the transactions from law enforcement agencies.

The accused, Dipu Singh, is a 21-year old whose father is a retired army officer. Singh is accused of selling many psychotropic and prescription pills on the dark web and shipping them to the US, Romania, Spain, and other countries.

He started out by selling health supplements and erectile dysfunction medication on major dark web markets. Later, he began selling tramadol, zolpidem, alprazolam and other psychotropic prescription medications. The suspect was taken into custody by the central anti-narcotics agency under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act.