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Until late at night from Thursday to Friday, investigators across Germany took action against drug trafficking via the Messenger Telegram. The raids on a total of 30 objects were part of an action led by cybercrime investigators against 13 men who allegedly sold drugs through the chat application or made their trade possible.
“Drug trafficking on Telegram has become a relevant Darknet alternative,” says prosecutor Benjamin Krause of the Central Office for Combating Internet Crime (ZIT) in Frankfurt am Main. Indeed, what appears to be a thriving market for drug trafficking via Telegram has emerged in recent years.
Medicines are more or less openly advertised on various channels and groups, which are often adapted regionally. At first glance, groups are often no different from groups on legal issues. Communication is done with emojis, short videos and voice messages. “These groups are deliberately designed to be customer-oriented,” says prosecutor Krause.
Thousands of members
With coordinated action, investigators have now managed to seize nine of those groups and stop the illegal trade there, as they explained in a press release. The groups had a total of around 8,000 members and had unique names that were based on the oldest drug markets on the Darknet, such as “Silk Road.”
According to the researchers, larger amounts of drugs were sold in the groups. Consequently, it was mainly traded in cannabis and cocaine. In the raids, four kilograms of drugs, eight weapons, 8,000 euros in cash and various data media were seized, it is said.
Some of the defendants are said to have acted as group operators, while others offered their products to the groups as “verified merchants”. Investigators hope they can take action against clients in a second step, according to the prosecutor.
A digital poster should be a deterrent
Investigators have posted a seizure banner on the groups, as used in investigations against darknet black markets. “It should be made clear that there is no lawless area on the darknet or alternative channels,” Benjamin Krause said of the fact that drug trafficking on Telegram is now also under attack. In the past, ZIT has been taken off the darknet black market for drug trafficking on several occasions.
The investigation into the illegal trade on Telegram has been carried out since June this year, according to the press release. “We monitor these groups for a longer period of time,” Krause said. In addition to the ZIT and the Federal Criminal Police Office, which are coordinating the investigation, several other prosecutor’s offices and police stations across Germany were involved in the action.
