How ‘dark web’ drug trader hid deadly trade at lonely farmhouse
WITH its isolated location on the stunning Gwynedd coast, Aberdovey is the sort of place that offers visitors an escape from the relentless pace of modern life. It could not be further from the sinister and threatening world of the so-called “dark web”, the internet market place where ruthless gangsters trade in everything from guns to child pornography.
But when the FBI smashed one of the most prolific of these websites last year, their investigations led them to this rural idyll on the southern edge of the Snowdonia national park.
Working with Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA), investigators swooped on a farmhouse in the hills above Aberdovey from where potentially lethal drugs were being sold to anyone able to navigate the internet.
Trading on “dark web” sites, Cei Owens, 29, distributed drugs to customers all over Britain. Owens happily guaranteed next day delivery, using the Royal Mail to post magic mushrooms and cannabis, earning a 4.9-out-of-five rating from his satisfied customers.
Owens, who used the pseudonym Johnny Alpha, was able to operate for many months with apparent impunity.
The Silk Road, the most famous of the “dark web” sites, was closed in October 2013, when its founder Ross Ulbricht, from San Francisco, was arrested on charges of money laundering, computer hacking, conspiracy to traffic narcotics and attempted murder. But within weeks, Silk Road 2.0 had been set up and was offering drugs, weapons and illegal pornography for sale.
Owens was one of six people in the UK arrested in November last year as part of a joint operation between the FBI and the NCA.
Yesterday he was jailed for two years after admitting unlawful supply and possession of drugs.
Swansea Crown Court heard that when police raided his home, they uncovered a “sophisticated online drugs business” involving a packaging area and a printer for producing address labels. They also found cannabis and magic mushrooms worth £1,700 being stored ready for distribution.
Peter Smith, area commander of the National Crime Agency, said: “Selling drugs this way is just like any other organised crime network – it takes time and effort to investigate and build a criminal case, but we are determined and will continue to prosecute people who deal drugs and commit serious crime using the ‘dark web’.”