The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has arrested a man accused of allegedly procuring drugs on the darknet from Europe by using Bitcoins.
In November last year, NCB Zonal Director Sameer Wankhede and his team conducted a raid at Kharodi village in Malad and seized 20 blots of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD). During the course of the interrogation of the accused arrested in the raid, Wankhede learnt about one Makarand alias 'Cryptoking' who facilitated a platform for peddlers wanting to procure drugs from overseas.
The accused was allegedly a cryptocurrency dealer who facilitated his cryptocurrency accounts to make payments from these drug dealers to drug cartels operating on the dark net.
Sources from NCB said that the seized drug was purchased from the darknet using Bitcoins. The accused was found to be providing Bitcoins to drug purchasers in various parts of Mumbai and allegedly facilitated a number of such transactions.
A release issued by NCB detailing the modus operandi said that Makarand received cash and facilitated the Bitcoin deal at a small margin. Terming the activity as extremely dangerous practice in society, a detailed probe into all the deals carried out by Makarand is being done by the agency.
All his electronic equipment and mobiles are being checked and his wallets being used for sale and the purchase of cryptocurrency is being examined. NCB officials have also written to the company providing wallets while dealing with cryotocurrency, asking for details of all the deals carried out by Makarand.
In the present scenario, sellers of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances are using Bitcoin for illicit trafficking of drugs worldwide, especially LSD, heroin, hydroponic weeds, buds etc. in the present scenario, officials said.
Cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that is secured by cryptography, which makes it nearly impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. An example for this is Bitcoin.
Bitcoin is a decentralised digital currency that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer network without the need for intermediaries.
It has been observed that there has been use of cryptocurrency without having details of a person's KYC. In this regard, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has launched a probe.
With drug peddlers increasingly using such platforms to make payments for drugs and launder money, this could be dangerous if the situation cannot be controlled, said a senior official.
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