NEW DELHI: A 40-year-old Indian national, Banmeet Singh, has been sentenced to five years in prison for selling controlled substances on dark web marketplaces. He was ordered to forfeit approximately USD 150 million. Singh, who hails from Haldwani, was arrested in April 2019 in London at the request of the US. In March 2023, he was extradited to the US.In January, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit money laundering.
According to the court documents and in statements made in court, Banmeet created vendor marketing sites on dark web marketplaces like Silk Road, Alpha Bay, Hansa, and others. He sold controlled substances, including fentanyl, LSD, ecstasy, Xanax, ketamine, and tramadol.
Customers paid with cryptocurrency for drugs ordered from Singh using the vendor sites. Singh then personally shipped or arranged the shipment of the drugs from Europe to the United States through US mail or other shipping services.
From 2012 through July 2017, Singh controlled at least eight distribution cells within the US. These cells were located in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, New York, North Dakota, and Washington, among other locations.
Individuals in these distribution cells received drug shipments and then re-packaged and re-shipped the drugs to locations in all 50 states, Canada, England, Ireland, Jamaica, Scotland, and the US Virgin Islands, as stated by the Department of Justice on Friday.
Over the course of the conspiracy, the Singh drug organisation moved hundreds of kilograms of controlled substances throughout the United States. They also established a multimillion-dollar drug enterprise that laundered millions of dollars of drug proceeds into cryptocurrency accounts, which ultimately became worth approximately USD150 million, as per an official release.