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Trip to world beard competition ends in arrest for alleged dark web drug dealer
Source: The Guardian
Trip to world beard competition ends in arrest for alleged dark web drug dealer
Olivia Solon in San Francisco
Thursday 28 September 2017 21.14 BST
United States authorities arrested a suspected dark web drug dealer as he traveled into the country from his home in France to attend the World Beard and Moustache Championships.
Gal Vallerius, a French 38-year-old with a magnificent red beard, is accused of being a drug kingpin on the dark web, acting as an administrator for Dream Market, a marketplace for illegal narcotics including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines, counterfeit consumer goods and stolen data.
Vallerius was arrested as he landed at Atlanta international airport on 31 August, and during a border search of his laptop confirmed his identity as “OxyMonster”, the username for a Dream Market account that was not only listed as an administrator for the site but also listed prescription drugs including OxyContin and Ritalin for sale. Officials also discovered about $500,000 in bitcoins, the currency used for anonymously trading on the marketplace.
The arrest, first reported by the Miami Herald, was the culmination a multi-agency investigation that started in February 2016. As part of the investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration agents made undercover purchases of crystal meth, LSD and hydrocodone from a range of vendors on Dream Market and trawled the site to identify the usernames associated with the organising team.
-snip-
Olivia Solon in San Francisco
Thursday 28 September 2017 21.14 BST
United States authorities arrested a suspected dark web drug dealer as he traveled into the country from his home in France to attend the World Beard and Moustache Championships.
Gal Vallerius, a French 38-year-old with a magnificent red beard, is accused of being a drug kingpin on the dark web, acting as an administrator for Dream Market, a marketplace for illegal narcotics including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines, counterfeit consumer goods and stolen data.
Vallerius was arrested as he landed at Atlanta international airport on 31 August, and during a border search of his laptop confirmed his identity as “OxyMonster”, the username for a Dream Market account that was not only listed as an administrator for the site but also listed prescription drugs including OxyContin and Ritalin for sale. Officials also discovered about $500,000 in bitcoins, the currency used for anonymously trading on the marketplace.
The arrest, first reported by the Miami Herald, was the culmination a multi-agency investigation that started in February 2016. As part of the investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration agents made undercover purchases of crystal meth, LSD and hydrocodone from a range of vendors on Dream Market and trawled the site to identify the usernames associated with the organising team.
-snip-
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/sep/28/world-beard-moustache-competition-drug-dealer
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