A dark web vendor was apprehended with a USB drive containing 145 sales records. The Public Prosecution Service in the Netherlands sought an eight-year prison term, asserting that this individual was a significant dark web vendor.
In a previous case from 2017, a man from Heerhugowaard received a sentence of five years and six months for trafficking ecstasy pills on dark web platforms. Now, authorities are pursuing further charges after discovering a USB drive containing evidence of his drug operations.
In 2019, authorities launched an investigation to link him with money laundering. During this probe, they searched his prison cell and his girlfriend’s residence in Alkmaar, where they found the USB drive.
Police managed to locate the USB password in a notebook in the defendant’s cell. Upon decrypting the drive, investigators uncovered data related to the platform used by the defendant to sell various illicit drugs. The USB contained records of approximately 100,000 ecstasy pills, 22.5 kilograms of MDMA, 10 kilograms of amphetamine, 10,000 2-CB pills, and 2.6 kilograms of cocaine. These substances were shipped in 145 orders to 30 countries between August 2017 and March 2018, totaling 90 kilograms in weight.
The Public Prosecution Service recommended 100 hours of community service for the defendant’s 30-year-old girlfriend, who was found in possession of 39 ecstasy pills and a firearm-like weapon. Prosecutors allege that she was financially dependent on her boyfriend’s earnings. In her defense, the girlfriend claimed to earn a living through babysitting, but prosecutors argue that her refusal to provide a list of families she worked for indicates she is protecting her boyfriend.
The prosecution is seeking an eight-year prison sentence for the 33-year-old drug dealer, citing aggravating circumstances and recidivism as grounds for the extended term.
