26 July 2015
A 30 year-old man from West Wales, has been jailed follwing an international operation targeting significant vendors of illegal drugs through dark web marketplaces such as Silk Road II.
Cei Owens – operating under the pseudonym of “JohnnyAlpha” – was arrested in November last year. He had a presence on at least five illicit market places including: Silk Road 2 (SR2), Agora, Onion shop, Evolution and Sheep market place. Through these sites, investigating officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) were able to find evidence of at least 444 transactions that Owens had made since he established himself as a vendor in October 2013.
At the time of his arrest, cannabis resin, herbal cannabis, MDMA and psilocybin (magic mushrooms) were recovered from his home in Aberdovey.
Owens pleaded guiltyin June this year to all five charges relating to the possession and supply of class A and class B drugs. He was sentenced to two years at Swansea Crown Court lst Friday.
Peter Smith, Area Commander of the National Crime Agency commented: "The realisation that you can be tracked and identified on the dark web is beginning to sink in for online criminals. 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."
