FBI catches students selling drugs through New Zealand on dark web

Five Manchester University students are facing jail after the FBI caught them selling $1million in Ecstasy, ketamine and LSD to dark web users in New Zealand and across the globe.

The group, led by a former grammar school pupil, sold the drugs in Bitcoin in a bid to cover their tracks and make it harder for their crime to be uncovered.

The geology, computer science and pharmacology students then enjoyed a "lifestyle far above that of typical students" - partying and selling illegal drugs while in New Zealand, Jamaica, the Bahamas and Europe.

But their operation, which they ran from a city centre flat described as a 'drug dealing factory', was finally shut down by the FBI after two years.

The group shifted large quantities of ecstasy, the hallucinogens LSD and 2CB, and ketamine, a horse tranquiliser - across Europe and to customers in New Zealand, Australia, Europe as well as in Manchester.

Petrochemical engineering student Basil Assaf, 26, faces a lengthy prison sentence after admitting to ten counts of drug dealing. He will be charged today with four others facing similar charges.

Inspired by Walter White - the teacher who turned to drug dealing in cult TV show Breaking Bad - the court heard earlier this week how Assaf set up the gang's account on the Silk Road, an underworld marketplace which ran on the Dark Web - the part of the internet unseen by ordinary browsers - for over two-and-a-half years until the FBI shut it down.

The value of the students' sales was at least $1.14m, but their profits are likely to have risen exponentially because they took payment in Bitcoin (BTC), the electronic currency which rose in value by 1,000 per cent in 2017, and is free from government and central bank control.

The group shifted large quantities of ecstasy, the hallucinogens LSD and 2CB, and ketamine, a horse tranquiliser into New Zealand and around the globe. Photo / Getty

Assaf's lawyer said he believed his dealing was 'morally defensible' because drug use was commonplace at university.

In messages recovered during the investigation, Assaf bosated that "no one could find out how many bitcoins accumulated and are stored elsewhere".

In another message Assaf said he was "more than happy to do time for all of this. if BTC continues going up whilst we're inside there's a chance we'll come out with mills".

Prosecutors have so far been unable to trace his Bitcoin, the Daily Mail reported.

The gang's dealings on the dark web included the sale of about 240,000 ecstasy tablets, with a street value of just under £750,000, Manchester Crown Court heard.

The gang ran their worldwide operation for two-and-a-half years from May 2011 to October 2013, after starting to take drugs at university.

"Their common interest in taking controlled drugs quickly grew into a business selling drugs to other students in Manchester," prosecutor William Baker said.

"Their common interest in taking controlled drugs quickly grew into a business selling drugs to other students in Manchester," prosecutor William Baker said.

They advertised with photographs of the drugs, a description and the price on the Silk Road, before fulfilling orders in the post.

Assaf, 26, was the 'prime mover', running the Silk Road account and preparing and posting drugs.

Inspired by Walter White - the teacher who turned to drug dealing in cult TV show Breaking Bad - the court heard earlier this week how Assaf set up the gang's account on the Silk Road. Photo / Getty

Geology student Elliot Hyams, 26, who had been at school with Assaf at Dr Challoner's Grammar in Amersham, was involved in the underworld start-up, but was thrown out after Assaf 'lost patience' with him.

James Roden, 25, who read computer science, and Jaikishen Patel, 26, who studied pharmacology, were both involved with the Silk Road account and the buying and supplying of drugs.

Meanwhile, marketing student Joshua Morgan, 28, played the least role, sometimes packaging drugs for export.

The group were caught out following by an FBI investigation into the Silk Road, which shut down the website after seizing its servers in Iceland.

On the same day, in October 2013, Assaf and Roden were arrested after a raid on their city centre flat in Lower Ormond Street by the National Crime Agency, a flat described as the 'hub of the enterprise' in court.

The flat, described as a 'drug dealing factory', included laptops which were used to access the dark web, thousands of pounds worth of cash, a baseball bat next to the front door as well as LSD, ecstacy, 2CB, ketamine and diazepam.

Before the offending period, in a message to a friend Assaf said 'I thought I killed a girl' after an 18-year-old woman was rushed to hospital after taking ecstasy in a nightclub.

In the message, he wrote: "I can tell you some pretty scary stories - when I was dealing I thought I killed a girl who I grew up with."

Defending Assaf, Alistair Webster QC, said his client got into dealing after taking drugs himself at university, and saw the dark web as a 'safe' way of getting hold of drugs.

Mr Webster said: "It was his view at the time of the events in question that the ubiquitous of drugs in the university that what he and his friends were doing was morally defensible."

Hyams' barrister, James Pickup QC, said that Assaf had taken advantage of his school friend, who he said had been bullied at school and was 'naive' and 'weak willed'.

Mr Pickup claimed Hyams was 'used' and 'manipulated' by Assaf.

Assaf and Hyams pleaded guilty to ten drugs offences, including conspiracy to export, import and supply controlled drugs, as well as possession with intent to supply and conspiracy to supply LSD.

Roden and Patel admitted nine drugs offences, and Morgan admitted assisting an offender.

The defendants will be sentenced on Tuesday.