‘Dark web’ to Bitcon: Delhi cops bust gang that bought drugs for rave parties
Two members of a drug syndicate, including a disk jockey, were arrested by Delhi police crime branch with around 62 grams of ecstasy.
The Delhi Police crime branch busted a network of drug peddlers involved in procuring drugs online through deep web, popularly known as invisible web, and supplying them to “rave parties” in Delhi-NCR.
Two members of the syndicate, including a disc jockey who plays music at parties in Delhi-NCR, have been arrested in the last one week with around 62 grams of ecstasy (MDMA) — a psychotropic substance sold in tablets and powder form. Those arrested were identified as Kamal Kalra, a DJ, and Mahesh Goyal, who attends rave parties and supplies drugs to Kalra.
The value of the seized drug is around Rs 3 lakh, police said on Monday.
Digging ‘Deep Web’ for drugs
Rajesh Deo, deputy commissioner of police (crime), said Goyal disclosed that the illegal online drug trade is done through “deep web”, which is the opposite term for surface web. Unlike surface web that is accessible to anyone using the Internet, the content of deep web is invisible and hidden behind HTML (hypertext markup language) forms.
“This illegal business works on peer group model and it spreads from one user to another by word of mouth. Goyal had first consumed ecstasy at a rave party in Chennai and learnt that it can be procured through online shopping using websites like ‘dream market’ by operating in deep web accessed through browsers like ‘tor browser’ and ‘onion browser’,” Deo said.
Bitcon for payments
Alok Kumar, joint commissioner of police (crime) says the payment for such consignments is done through ‘Bitcoin’ and the delivery is made by post and courier from countries such as the Netherlands and the US.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that is not tied to a bank or government and allows users to spend money anonymously.
The Delhi Police have approached the narcotic control bureau (NCB) and ministry of electronics and information technology to ensure that such online trade and transactions are stopped. They are also probing how the supply of contraband through couriers in India from other countries is going undetected and unchecked.
According to Deo, Kalra was arrested on October 29 from Sector-13, Rohini with 100 pills of ecstasy, popularly known as yokes, MDMA and pills. Kalra’s interrogation revealed that he had procured the contraband from a man who contacted him and introduced himself with various names such as Sanjay and Utkarsh.
Police collected details of the user of the mobile number and later arrested Goyal from Dwarka. “Twenty grams of MDMA in raw form was seized from him,” said the DCP.