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A teenager used Bitcoin to buy ecstasy tablets on the dark web from a supplier in Holland who sent them to him concealed in a DVD case.
And after the package – which had Dylan Bailey’s name and address on it – was intercepted at the Royal Mail’s international logistics centre, texts on Bailey’s phone showed he had been selling the class A drug before.
He had been offering people the chance to buy high-strength ‘Super Mario’ pills during his offences, which showed what his barrister described as a “lack of sophistication”.
Bailey, 19, of Arbury Road, Nuneaton, was jailed for two-and-a-half years by a judge at Warwick Crown Court after pleading guilty to importing ecstasy and being concerned in its supply.
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What happened?
Prosecutor Amiee Parkes said that in February last year an officer at the Royal Mail international logistics centre checked a packet addressed to Bailey which had been sent from the Netherlands.
In the package was a DVD case in which the officer found heat-sealed packaging containing 83 pink tablets embossed with a likeness of the Coca-Cola logo.
He carried out a test which showed the tablets were ecstasy, with a street value of up to £5 each.
Bailey was arrested at his home and on his phone the police found requests for ecstasy ranging from a single tablet to £50 worth.
There were also ‘adverts’ sent by Bailey to a group of people offering pills for sale, including high-strength ‘Super Mario’ ecstasy tablets.
When he was interviewed Bailey, who had no previous convictions, said he had researched obtaining the tablets after accessing the dark web, and had used Bitcoin to pay for them – but claimed they were all for his own use.
‘Lack of sophistication’
Andrew Tucker, defending, said: “A year ago when he was 18 he ordered, via the dark web and using Bitcoin, a moderate quantity of class A drugs.
“There was a complete lack of sophistication. He not only used his own address, but put his own name on, and that led the police straight to his door.”
Despite the messages on the phone, Mr Tucker suggested it had been “an isolated incident”, and said that since then Bailey had “set upon his own rehabilitation by abstaining from drugs”.
And he added: “He is well aware now that normally people dealing in class A drugs go to custody, but it would not be in the public interest for him to go away today because it would set him back substantially.”
‘Far from spur-of-the-moment’
But jailing Bailey, Judge Anthony Potter told him: “Almost exactly a year ago someone at the international logistics centre tasked with inspecting packages opened a package addressed to you which contained, concealed in a DVD case, 83 ecstasy tablets.
“Your phone had evidence of you having supplied drugs in the past to other individuals.
“You accepted you had done some research on how to access the dark web, and you researched and obtained Bitcoin and accessed the dark web and made a purchase of ecstasy tablets.
“This was far from being a spur-of-the-moment look across a pub and going over to someone and asking them to supply you. You put particular effort into obtaining these drugs, and you were selling them.
“You are someone who has never troubled the courts before, so you have entered the criminal justice system with a considerable bang.
“This will be your first prison sentence, and you will be entering the prison system at a time when it is particularly onerous.”
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