Online drug sale probe expands

The investigation into what authorities say is an illicit drug-trafficking website known as Silk Road has broadened to Britain, where four men were arrested on suspicion of selling controlled substances.

The suspects, one in his 50s and the others in their 20s, were arrested last week, shortly after FBI agents arrested Ross William Ulbricht in San Francisco on suspicion of conspiracy to commit narcotics trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering.

Ulbricht, 29, who holds a bachelor’s degree in physics, is also accused of attempting to have two people killed in an effort to keep the online drug operation afloat.

Silk Road, which required users to install software that concealed their identities and locations to make it difficult for authorities to identify them, connected drug dealers with customers, using the Bitcoin online currency. Customers received their orders by mail, prosecutors said.

The site generated about $1.2 billion in sales of heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana and other illegal substances in less than three years, with Silk Road’s operators earning $80 million in commissions, an FBI agent said in an affidavit filed in support of Ulbricht’s arrest.

Britain’s National Crime Agency made the four arrests hours after Ulbricht was arrested while using a computer in a San Francisco library.

“These arrests send a clear message to criminals,” Keith Bristow, the NCA’s director general, said in a statement, according to Bloomberg News. “The hidden Internet isn’t hidden and your anonymous activity isn’t anonymous. We know where you are, what you are doing and we will catch you.”

Ulbricht, whose attorney said he denies all charges, is scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a bail hearing.