The confession of the drug peddlers, who were caught at a rave party near Rushikonda recently, that they have sourced the drugs through the dark web has opened new portals of crime in the city.
Drugs such as MMDA, cocaine and LSD are unheard of earlier. And sourcing them through the dark web has turned out to be a cause for worry for the police. “This is a dangerous trend as dark web is not accessible by all. It is extensively used by terrorists, cyber hackers, arms traders and drug cartels,” says a police officer.
Expert at work
“One feature of the dark web is that it is out of bounds for the common man and can be accessed only by a cyber expert. This indicates that there is a professional among the peddlers, which takes the crime to a different level,” says the officer. “As those accessing the dark web remain anonymous, or operate it incognito, it is very difficult to track the user. Moreover, it works on a different platform in the Internet,” he says.
Virtual money
“To gain access to the dark web, one has to know how it runs. There will be many layers. The user, or the machine, or for that matter the server cannot be tracked easily. And that is why it is used by terrorist groups, illegal arms traders and drug dealers, and the transactions are made in bitcoins, which is virtual money,” says DIG (Tech) Ch. Srikanth.
“One of the accused, Manukonda Satyanarayana (26), has procured the drugs through the dark web using bitcoin accounts,” City Police Commissioner Mahesh Chandra Laddha said.
In most cases, the system is destroyed after a transaction is made. Cyber experts in the Police Department say there are many who steal personal details of individuals and put them up for sale on the dark web. “Most terrorist groups use it to strike drugs or weapons deals,” says an expert.
Acting on a tip-off, the City Task Force and Arilova police raided a hotel in Rushikonda recently and unearthed the case.
