After nearly a year of investigation, Grenoble police arrested a young man from Grenoble suspected of drug trafficking on March 16, 2022. During the search, investigators discovered that the computer expert had a small clandestine laboratory and that he traded drugs around the world via the dark web.
Marijuana, heroin, cocaine, amphetamines, methamphetamines, ecstasy, ketamine, hallucinogens: the list of drugs found in the Grenoble computer expert's case goes on and on.
According to Boris Duffau, Grenoble's deputy prosecutor, investigators found a total of 25 kilograms of various drugs in a box that had been converted into a "small clandestine laboratory".
Dark Web Nebula
To discreetly buy and sell drugs, the 21-year-old computer-savvy man used the dark web. A parallel Internet that can only be accessed through software that anonymizes user data.
This network is often used by criminals who take advantage of this "untraceability" to engage in all kinds of illegal trafficking: weapons, drugs, child pornography, etc.
However, once an item is sold online, it still needs to be shipped. It is the coming and going of these packages that gives investigators a clue.
Betrayed by his packages
In June 2021, customs officers in Pas-de-Calais found 200 grams of heroin in a package from the Netherlands that was intended for a computer specialist in Grenoble. The deputy prosecutor added: "The investigation made it possible to count four other similar deliveries last month, bringing the total amount purchased by the recipient to 800 grams."
The Grenoble judicial police were then informed and studied the suspect's bank accounts, which turned out to be inconsistent with his professional activities. The prosecutor elaborated, "It was noted that there were cash transactions on a UK cryptocurrency account in the amount of €24,900, which may indicate that drugs were purchased through the use of the dark web."
A young man with no criminal record
As a result, investigators arrested the Grenoble resident on March 16, which is how they discovered the computer expert's "small secret lab." During the search, the police seized 9,345 euros on the spot and nearly 63,000 euros through a personal bank account.
The deputy prosecutor concluded, "The defendant admitted to regularly buying and reselling drugs through the dark web. His customers were partly in France and partly abroad, particularly in the United States and Canada."
The young computer expert will be summoned to the criminal court for a hearing on May 4.