Donatas Kasputis, who sold 76 kg of drugs through the dark web, was jailed for nine years. Police said that Kaspoutis used the alias “Goodgear” to sell cocaine, ecstasy, and mephedrone to 550 customers in the UK and abroad.
The 35-year-old, of Brackland Road in Costessey, near Norwich, was arrested in July at a post office with 16 packages of drugs. At Norwich Crown Court, he pleaded guilty to eight charges, including two counts of selling class-A drugs.
How were his activities connected to the dark web?
Police discovered Kaspoutis' drug business through a cybercrime investigation by the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU). They initially came across a user named “Beatyhouse2015” who later changed his name to “Goodgear”.
He was linked to a profile in Boston, Lincolnshire, but then moved to Norfolk and sent up to 30 parcels daily. Officers identified him through DNA profiling by sharing information with international partners under the Prüm Agreement.
A search of his home revealed 130 grams of cocaine, 1,300 ecstasy pills, 6.4 kg of mephedrone, and over 1.4 kg of cannabis.
Detective Inspector Jonathan Naylor of EMSOU's regional cybercrime unit said:
“As with other cybercrime, the use of the internet and the dark web allows individuals to sell to a much wider market, crossing country and regional borders, which would normally require larger organized crime groups.”
“The dark web is often seen as anonymous and sellers claim to protect their customers, but we were able to identify 550 people who bought drugs from Goodgear and passed this information on to the relevant law enforcement agencies.”
This case is particularly noteworthy because Donatas Kasputis is a rare example of an individual drug trafficker who conducted operations on such a large scale. Typically, drug sales on such a large scale are the work of large organized groups or specialized online stores. In this case, one person was able to organize and maintain a drug business that involved hundreds of customers and thousands of parcels, making him unique in the world of the dark web and drug trafficking.
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