Bengaluru police bust dark web-powered drug racket

Bengaluru, Nov 30 (IANS) With the arrest of two drug peddlers, the Bengaluru Police on Saturday claimed to have busted an international drug racket, operating in the city through the dark web.

The police arrested Atif Salim, 25, a resident of Kolkata who came here to study, and Rohith Das, 26, on Thursday, and recovered 2.75 kg marijuana, 100 e-cigarettes and jelly valued at Rs 1 crore from them.

According to the police, Salim sourced drugs from an unidentified source in Canada using the dark web and Wick Me messaging app. The chat history between Salim and his Canadian source has been seized. The police plan to approach Interpol to uncover the source.

Narcotics were sent to Salim disguised in milk powder cans, which puzzlingly cleared the Kempegowda International Airport security checks, the police said.

Transactions for sourcing drugs were made in bitcoins, which don't leave a trail. Salim used to distribute the drugs to other peddlers across India as directed by the international source. He used to get a 25 per cent cut for the peddled drugs and acting as the main distributor, the police added.

Salim used packaging material similar to e-commerce giant Amazon and targeted college students with ganja chocolates to later sell them stronger and expensive drugs.