Bamberg Regional Court - Several years in prison for operator of online drug platform
According to investigators, it was one of the largest German-language drug sales sites on the Darknet: A 23-year-old man has been sentenced to four years and nine months in prison for operating the website "Deutschland im Deep Web 3" and extensive online drug trafficking. The Bamberg district court found the former student guilty of operating criminal trading platforms on the internet and gang drug trafficking, among other things, according to a court spokesperson on Friday. The judges also ordered him to be placed in a rehab center.
The young man is alleged to have kept the platform running on the darknet, a hidden part of the internet, between October 2021 and March 2022. According to investigators, it most recently had around 16,000 users, making it one of the largest German-language platforms of its kind. A marketplace with a history: the operator of the first version of the marketplace was sentenced to several years in prison in 2018 after the assassin from the Olympic shopping center in Munich bought his weapon and ammunition there.
The platform operated by the accused, on the other hand, was mainly used to sell drugs. Investigators, including officers from the Federal Criminal Police Office, tracked him down using a cell phone number and an online train ticket to Dingolfing, which they were able to link to the platform from a jumble of data. Transfers from an account for cryptocurrencies also ultimately led to the student's room in Landshut.
In the trial before the Bamberg district court, the 23-year-old also had to answer for drug trafficking. Together with two previously convicted accomplices, the young man is said to have planned to set up another marketplace on the darknet. The accused is also alleged to have sold numerous drugs via another store on the freely available internet. Almost 3.5 kilos of ketamine, 1.7 kilos of MDMA and more than 17,000 ecstasy tablets were sold in this way. According to the investigating Central Office for Cybercrime Bavaria in Bamberg, the turnover generated by these transactions amounted to around 110,000 euros.
The accused made a comprehensive confession during the trial. The man's defence lawyers had previously explained that the whole thing had been characterized by the accused's "free spirit", including in his dealings with drugs. The student had lacked esteem in his social environment, whereas he had experienced this online. Her client regrets the crime and its consequences.
The 23-year-old has been in custody since his arrest in October 2022. The verdict is not yet final.
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- The criminal proceedings against the operator of the drug platform took place at the Regional Court in Bamberg, a city located in Lower Bavaria, Germany.
- Despite operating the platform in the hidden part of the internet known as the darknet, the man was eventually tracked down in Landshut, Bavaria.
- The Bamberg District Court, responsible for handling criminal cases within the Bamberg district, issued judgments in several drug-related cases, including the conviction of the operator of the "Deutschland im Deep Web 3" platform.
- The Lower Bavarian authorities, including the Central Office for Cybercrime Bamberg, have been actively fighting against online drug trafficking, leading to numerous convictions and confiscations of illegal substances.
- The operator of the drug platform, now serving a prison sentence in Germany, expressed remorse for his actions, acknowledging the negative impact they had on individuals and society, particularly in the context of rising criminality and substance abuse.
Source: www.stern.de
