Darknet entity activity on Bitcoin blockchain is always trending upwards due to the rise in popularity of the crypto space and some of these bad actors are leveraging it to buy drugs like LSD (Lysergic Acid Diethylamide). Yesterday, we saw LSD drugs worth up to 135000 get seized by Thane- An Indian State police officials
These types of drugs are rarely on the market, so they have to be purchased through the darknet and shipped from another country. In the case of the recent LSD seizure, 1496 LSD blots were shipped from Switzerland to Dombivli. The three accused- Bhavik Thakkar, Niwant Velhekar, and Mani Bhargav, intended to resell the drugs at a significantly higher price in small doses.
We are still not sure about which exchange did they use to pay the amount in the form of bitcoin and the police reported that this is a huge racket with international links, using such forms of payment for monetary exchange. They also suspect that these college-going students may have a large client base all across the city. That part of the investigation is still going on, while the arrested trio was remanded in police custody.
We have seen a similar incident happen a week ago when a Mumbai Resident Mahakarand P Adivirkar helped people buy LSD by converting their cash into bitcoin. He used the Russian dark web marketplace, Hydra, for purchasing LSD drugs from Europe and other parts of the world.
The number of dark web transactions is decreasing compared to last year, according to crystal blockchain, and the volume in Q1 2021 is 400 million, which is 43 million lesser than the previous year. There might be a slight decline in activity, as we are seeing bitcoin’s value plunged by more than 45% in recent months. However, we are still seeing bad actors leveraging the darknet and influencing others to participate in such drug-bitcoin trades.
Born and brought up in India, Karthikeya Gutta is a crypto journalist and freelance contributor for ItsBlockchain. He covers various aspects of the industry with in-depth analysis and research. His passion towards blockchain and crypto ecosystem is mainly because he believes it can really change the world and help millions of people.
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