The FBI have shut down the “Ebay of the drug trade” and have
also accused the man behind the secret website of trying to hire a hit
man.
The FBI had discovered and found a black market on a hidden website used to buy drugs and hire hit men, and they have arrested its suspected mastermind.
Ross William Ulbricht, 29, is accused of “controlling and overseeing all aspects” of the hidden website: Silk Road. Another accusation suggests he was trying to hire a hit man to kill another person who was trying to extort him.
Ulbricht, known as Dread Pirate Roberts on the site, is also charged with drug trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering.
One listing for heroin promised buyers: “All rock, no powder, vacuum sealed and stealth shipping.”
Undercover
agents made more than 100 purchases of LSD, ecstasy, heroin and other
drugs offered on the site, the court papers said.
Services for sale on Silk Road included hacking into accounts at Twitter, Facebook or other social networks and tutorials for cracking cash points.
Guns and hitmen were also on offer in 10 countries on the site, which launched in 2011, according to the charges.
Ulbricht himself is accused of using the murder-for-hire services on Silk Road this year.
The physics graduate allegedly told an undercover investigator posing as a drug dealer he would pay him to “beat up” a former employee he believed had stolen money from Silk Road.
Later Ulbricht wrote to ask whether he could “change the order to execute rather than torture” and agreed to make two payments of $40,000 (£24,000) each to get the job done, according to authorities.
As of July, there were nearly one million registered users of the site from the UK, US, Germany, Russia and elsewhere, the court papers said.
Federal authorities shut the site down and swooped on Ulbricht on Tuesday afternoon in a branch of San Francisco’s public library.
Earlier this year, authorities in South Carolina arrested Eric Daniel Hughes, who used Silk Road under the name Casey Jones, and charged him in state court with drug possession.
The FBI had discovered and found a black market on a hidden website used to buy drugs and hire hit men, and they have arrested its suspected mastermind.
Ross William Ulbricht, 29, is accused of “controlling and overseeing all aspects” of the hidden website: Silk Road. Another accusation suggests he was trying to hire a hit man to kill another person who was trying to extort him.
Ulbricht, known as Dread Pirate Roberts on the site, is also charged with drug trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering.
Ross William Ulbricht is alleged to be the mastermind behind Silk Road
Silk
Road is the name of the site used to float drugs on the black market,
it is dubbed the eBay of the drug trade, and used a privacy-protecting
Tor network browser and Bitcoin digital currency to shield the
identities of buyers and sellers from around the world.
Authorities
saw its largest ever seizure of currency during the raid, as
approximately $3.6m (£2.2m) worth of Bitcoins was discovered.
FBI
agent Christopher Tarbell said Silk Road was used by “several thousand
drug dealer” to sell “hundreds of kilograms of illegal drugs”.
The
website allowed users to anonymously browse through nearly 13,000
listings under categories such as “cannabis”, ”psychedelics” and
“stimulants”, “erotica”, “forgeries” and “fireworks” before making
purchases with Bitcoins.One listing for heroin promised buyers: “All rock, no powder, vacuum sealed and stealth shipping.”
Silk Road – The eBay of the drug trade
Ulbricht was arrested at a library
Services for sale on Silk Road included hacking into accounts at Twitter, Facebook or other social networks and tutorials for cracking cash points.
Guns and hitmen were also on offer in 10 countries on the site, which launched in 2011, according to the charges.
Ulbricht himself is accused of using the murder-for-hire services on Silk Road this year.
The physics graduate allegedly told an undercover investigator posing as a drug dealer he would pay him to “beat up” a former employee he believed had stolen money from Silk Road.
Later Ulbricht wrote to ask whether he could “change the order to execute rather than torture” and agreed to make two payments of $40,000 (£24,000) each to get the job done, according to authorities.
As of July, there were nearly one million registered users of the site from the UK, US, Germany, Russia and elsewhere, the court papers said.
Federal authorities shut the site down and swooped on Ulbricht on Tuesday afternoon in a branch of San Francisco’s public library.
The FBI have seized silk roads website and millions in digital currency
Ulbricht
was in a library chatting on his laptop with who is now a co-operating
witness about Silk Road, when he was arrested, authorities have said.
Ulbricht appeared in court in San Francisco on Wednesday, he did not plea to any of the charges.
The
mastermind behind Silk Road is due back in court in San Francisco
Federal Court againto discuss bail and his transfer to New York, where
most of the charges have been filed.
The raid on Wednesday was not the first time the US government has made arrests related to Silk Road.Earlier this year, authorities in South Carolina arrested Eric Daniel Hughes, who used Silk Road under the name Casey Jones, and charged him in state court with drug possession.
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