I am one of the first people to be charged with and convicted of using the Silk Road marketplace to import drugs in the UK. AMA!

How did you get caught?

A package was flagged from Holland with my name and address on and police turned up to my house. They confiscated my phone, computer and laptop and found evidence against me.

What happened afterward? I'm assuming nothing too strict if you're on Reddit!

I was bailed by the police and answered bail after 6 months.

I was referred to Magistrate's court and bailed for a further 6 months.

I was then referred from MC to Crown Court and bailed for yet another 6 months or so.

I attended Crown Court 5 times and was entering an early guilty plea. Looking at the guidelines my solicitor said it was 100% a custodial sentence and to expect 3 years at most with your credit. So after trying to plead guilty for 4 court appearances, the judge was still not happy with the case going ahead because the prosecution had missed things out and made errors. My solicitor was also pretty useless and the judge wasn't happy.

At my final appearance I gave evidence in the dock as the prosecution implied that I was a commercial drug dealer who was making a profit. I said that I wasn't making any profit and the drugs were intended to be sold on at cost price to close friends.

The judge made a call based on my character and ignored a lot of the evidence against me. He reduced the sentence down to 12 months, suspended for 2 years and gave me some community service.

The amount of time I feel that judges don't give the correct sentence to the crime it's really refreshing to see a judge take into consideration inadequate lawyers and good defence character to make a lenient call. Good on him

This made me smile, thanks :)

Well, I'm glad you're off the hook, I'm personally very happy with the idea of all drugs being legal and regulated, I feel that would solve a lot of problems and get the help required for those who need it, but I've got to say

The judge... ignored a lot of the evidence against me.

That seems like a pretty shitty judge. Can you clarify this a little? Did he actually ignore the evidence against you or did he simply figure this wasn't worth much of a punishment?

Well there was evidence of me selling ecstasy tablets to almost 20 friends over a ~12 month period. But I had stopped selling and the final order which was due to arrive 4-5 months after I had stopped selling was seized and led to my arrest. So the prosecution tried to draw inferences from the fact I had clearly sold ecstasy before to say that I was planning on selling this order too. But when giving evidence I said that this was my final order, 75% of the order was for friends and 25% was for me and my girlfriend.

When the judge summed up the case he mentioned that the previous selling of ecstasy had basically nothing to do with this charge and that he believed that I had stopped selling etc. So nearly a year of messages documenting me selling ecstasy was ruled as unrelated to the charge.

He then accepted my guilty plea of intent to supply 75% of the last order and personal use of the 25% and sentenced me for ONLY THAT. Disregarding the other evidence.

I think this is because the charge was importation with intent to supply 100 tablets. Which was the last order only.

Thank you for that clarification. Now I understand, and that seems completely fair, dismissing stuff as irrelevant rather than ignoring current evidence.

No problem

I have a question and it may be a bit shitty but why did you use your computer or phone to sell to your friends?

I would think that if I were planning on selling drugs I would never use any medium which can be traced so directly to me whether it's on the phone or using facebook or whatnot. I have heard of a few cases where the people selling drugs were sending facebook messages to each other in a really basic code about buying them and it always struck me as a bit odd being that careless.

Did the police discover your code quickly or did you explain it to them when you plead guilty and then they tried to use it in the prosecution?

I never thought the police would have a reason to look at my messages. I was just sending normal messages discussing it and it was indeed, very stupid.

The judge made a call based on my character and ignored a lot of the evidence against me. He reduced the sentence down to 12 months, suspended for 2 years and gave me some community service.

So how does that work? You get to wander around for a further 2 years and then go to jail?

What quantities we're you actually caught for? You explained that the drugs were for personal use and for friends meaning it was not for profit. But, hypothetically speaking, if someone had purchased a similar amount of drugs for a "for profit" en-devour, would the amount of bit coins they used actually be more valuable than the drugs they purchased.

Anyway, make the best of your time in Jail, take advantage of whatever training/rehabilitation programs they have and good luck.

Edit Thanks for the replies. I now know what a suspended sentence is.

A suspended sentence in fact means that when the 2 years are up, providing I haven't been arrested or in trouble for any other reason, I am free to carry on my life with no custody. The sentence is only activated if I get in trouble.

I was only caught for the 100 tablets and when they charged me it was for importation and intent to supply of the 100 ONLY. So any evidence of other drugs or supplying drugs was unrelated and couldn't be used (apart from drawing inferences to try to persuade the judge, which didn't happen)

[deleted]

I pleaded guilty to IMPORTATION with intent to supply and yet I still received a lesser sentence.

This was because the judge had to weigh up the quantity of drugs and my role based on the guidelines. It was extremely complex but I can give you more information if you want a complex explanation?

[deleted]

100, £400 ish

From now on you should really have your drive encrypted.

I won't have anything to hide anyway :)

Your name was on a package of drugs?

With plausible deniability it's not so bad to have your name on a package of drugs as anyone can send anything to anyone in the mail. But I went full retard when I left trails of evidence linking me to it on my phone/computer, yes :)

What was the quality of the drugs like? I heard importing from Silk Road almost ensured really good quality when compared with what you'd get from a dealer.

It was always good quality. Some times a bit too good quality.

Speaking out of total ignorance, care to elaborate on "too good quality?"

The MDMA that I received was always from the same presser. They pressed the Q-dance, Defqon, Partyflock and Mortal Kombats. There pills are notorious for being very high dosage but also to sometimes not contain the right synth to get the typical loved up MDMA feeling. So sometimes they would just destroy you and leave you sat on a couch with your eyes closed for hours...

How do you feel about the controversies around Silk Road and other Online Black Marketplaces involving bitcoins being stolen by staff of the sites?

If you read this article it'll give some insight into my opinion as I agree with some of his quotes and ideals...

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanmac/2013/10/02/who-is-ross-ulbricht-piecing-together-the-life-of-the-alleged-libertarian-mastermind-behind-silk-road/

I believe the Silk Road for example wasn't just built to make profit. It was created out of an ideal and philosophy that really does speak to me. So if these staff members were stealing money etc it destroys the message and just makes the whole thing about greed. It makes me kinda ashamed that everyone is so greedy I guess.

Do you think that the Silk Road helped decrease the violence associated with the drug trade by helping people avoid face-to-face meetings with drug dealers?

I dealt with MDMA only and as you probably know the drug money/gang violence etc surrounding MDMA is extremely low compared to Heroin, Cocaine and Cannabis in the UK.

But from what I have read and from my general experiences I think it was helping to decrease it.

In the UK, most drugs are controlled by gangs and violent criminals so when they have less business because some dutch guy is in his house, weighing up bags of cocaine and sending them to the UK through the mail; then obviously there's less money going into the hands of the street dealers and gangs. But I can't say for sure whether the money isn't eventually funnelling into organized crime etc...

How did you end up getting caught?

I saw that you shipped to your own house, what do you think about that decision nowadays?

See below for how I got caught :)

I wouldn't never go back to ordering from the deep web. But it's a double edged sword ordering to your address because if you don't, the package could be scrutinized if the address/name isn't legit. But if you order to your house and it gets seized, expect more than a letter from customs.

why didn't you just pretend you hadn't ordered anything and that some stranger was just sending you something? why did you let the police search your home? it doesn't make sense.

I didn't want to seem guilty so I let them enter my house. They arrested me immediately and began searching and confiscated my items :)

No, seriously, thats like Online ordering 101. Buying something questionable? When you get it, mark RTS on it and toss it aside. If asked, explain you don't know what it is and allow them to take it (indicate you had written RTS on it, but had not gotten around to taking it back to the post office yet). You're out an order, but no conviction.

If after a week or so nobody has bothered you about it, it's yours. Letting them in like that was just plain fucking stupid.

I understand that now :') But the moment when I saw 3 plain clothes police officers knocking at the door I was in a bit of shock :P

You might be getting flak* for that, but that just sounds like a pretty realistic reaction. We can act hard and professional on the internet all we want, but I'd probably get scared shirtless if some cops just showed up at my house after I did something illegal.. wouldn't think straight.

Anyway, I hope you're doing well for yourself now and don't end up arrested for anything again. Good luck out there!

Thanks!

im gonna have to say, reading your AMA you were a terrible drug dealer. no wonder you got caught.

Yeah I'm sure I was :')

I feel really stupid for even trying to get away with it!

I hate to ask you hypothetical questions, but do you think if you had refused them entry you would have been able to wipe you hard drives and perhaps avoid incriminating yourself so much? Can you detail what kind of evidence they were able to secure from your computer?

I believe they would've found out I had a phone contract and accessed my phone text records regardless. But I could've possibly wiped any link to my facebook account and hid my phone and maybe they would've never checked. I'm not sure.

So basically you're saying that you were

• using unencrypted communication

• having unencrypted harddrives with incriminating evidence

• Letting in the police into your house (I'm assuming from the way you said it, that they didn't have a warrant?) while there's incriminating evidence lying around?

If I were ordering drugs on the internet (which I would never do) I'd be much more optimistic now than I would have been when I started reading this AMA.

I'm not sure if they had a warrant, it was never mentioned.

How did you narrowly avoid jail time?

Would you prefer to live in Greenland?

I was pretty lucky in court. The judge assigned to my case was exceptionally lenient and made a speech about how I was a young person who had made mistakes but deserved a second chance.

I also pleaded guilty to importation and intent to supply at the earliest point in the case which gave me full credit.

Although the sentencing guidelines for what I was accused of was at least 4-6 years custody.

Sorry I forgot to reply to the second question; I don't fully understand why you asked it but no, I love my home town.

Did you ship to your house or a safe location?

I shipped to my house, yes. With a parent living here with me also.

Was it relatively easy to import drugs into the UK?

I think a 12 year old could do it on a Mac Mini by watching a couple of Youtube videos... so yeah :P

[deleted]

Only an avid MDMA user. Although recently I've been deciding to cut down completely and stop, whether this opinion changes in the near future, I won't know :P

I was reselling through close friends and close friends were involved in the ordering and payment etc.

I don't want to say how much I imported in total but I had used the site for a year or so and my last order (which was seized and led to my arrest) was 100 ecstasy tablets.

I would guess that for 100 tablets you could make £600 profit by selling on the streets. But I think selling drugs on the streets and taking drugs to nightclubs to sell is pretty dumb in my opinion.

Presuming you were a regular user of Silk Road I presume you had alot of bitcoins built up. Did you sell them when they hit high price? Or were they seized presuming the police confiscated your laptop or computer?

I actually didn't have any bitcoins left in my account when I was arrested. But I counted up the amount of bitcoins I had handled over a certain time period and if sold now would equate to hundreds of thousands of pounds...

How many times, prior to you being caught, had you received packages?

Numerous is all I want to say really :)

what do you think made this package different from the others that caused it to get flagged? Since frequency wasn't the issue.

When you successfully received packages prior, did you ever think, damn I wish they would have been more careful?

I saw it more as bad luck. I knew there was a chance of it getting seized and I was unlucky enough for it to have my name on. I don't know if the package was different as I never saw it. Maybe it was bad timing as they had sniffer dogs or were scanning items the day it came into the port.

What steps did you take to not get caught? What steps should you have taken to avoid being found out?

I obviously used Silk Road on TOR and I used bitcoins to pay which doesn't leave much of a paper trail back to myself. The problem was that if one suspect package got seized it would have my name and address on and instead of receiving a "love letter" from customs you would get police officers knocking at your door. Any evidence they find after knocking on your phone/computer can link you to the package. If you didn't have a single scrap of evidence on your computer/phone linking to the package you could deny the package was for you and probably face no charges.

so what was the evidence linking you to the package? Why were you unable to deny you ordered it?

They had evidence on my phone openly discussing selling MDMA.

What do you use now?

If you mean to buy drugs, I get them off friends but only rarely these days.

If you mean which drugs, just MDMA.

Uhhh...you really wanna admit to that after you got a suspended sentence with a laundry list of restrictions, one of which surely is not to buy or sell any more controlled substances?

When I left court the judge said to me that next time I am out and I am offered a pill, to make my own decision. He told me that no one could stop me taking drugs and making my own decisions but just know that taking drugs got me here in the first place and it can lead down this road again.

I have cut down and plan to quit in the future.

Do you support legalization of all drugs? Or partial legalization?

Not at all. I think there should be more understanding of what "drugs" are. 'cause many things we intake can have harmful effects on the body but for some reason we are allowed to make the decision to put it in our body. But with other substances we're not allowed to make that decision. The way the system is set up is counter productive. Putting money into the wrong hands, encouraging violent/criminal behaviour and causing other problems like legal highs and research chemicals and stuff...

I think the decriminalization of the less harmful drugs would be better. But that could cause problems in the long term by encouraging people to turn to drugs, who otherwise wouldn't because it's illegal. I don't know!

Do you mind sharing your age with us? If so, how old are you?

24

The fact that you went through all of this, yet you are still at least partially supportive of kidnapping people and locking them in cages for simply possessing a substance blows my mind.

Well when I see people creeping around nightclubs, intimidating people and causing violence etc I think "wow, I wish you would get locked up"

Yeh, except that those situations wouldn't happen if there wasn't an illegal market to sell drugs. And the only way to avoid that is to regulate and legalize. And there's plenty of research proving that "legalizing/decriminalizinf some drugs = people are encouraged to do drugs" is a factitious lie promoted by conservative forces. Just look at Portugal for christ's sake. Also although I'm glad you avoided jail time, I don't know how much you'd wish people to end up in jail for selling drugs if that happened to you and you'd actually experienced life in jail. In the eyes of the law there is NO difference between you dealing 5 tabs to your friends and those sketchy dealers you don't like selling 5 tabs to random people. The only difference here is that you got fucking lucky, so you shouldn't wish someone else's misfortune based on the fact that they "creep around nightclubs".

You make complete sense, thanks for explaining it so well :) I understand the problems lie with the state/system and I do know about Portugal's possession laws but not enough about them to see whether it works or not. I obviously believe some people need to go to prison and some people who don't need to go are sent over drugs charges so I agree there needs to be changes.

Did the person who sent them to you get caught too?

No idea

What did you buy, and how much did you order?

Ecstasy tablets, 100 in my last order, with numerous orders before.

Red or Blue? ;)

Red :)

Would you ever consider going back to selling?

No.

[deleted]

Yes, deeply. I had the worst 18 months of my life. Something like that hanging over your head, unsure whether you will be in prison or not. Horrible stuff!

How much did your solicitor & legal fees cost?
How stressful was it, it sounds like a long drawn out process

It was in fact free, due to legal aid :)

Do you feel as though you have done anything wrong?

Yes, I thought I could get away with selling drugs to people and I couldn't. I don't believe I am a bad person for doing it but it was definitely a mistake.

You cite that you adhere to the libertarian ideals of silk-road, though, you also say that you aren't a big drug user and only use MDMA. - Would you say that you decided to start importing moreso to make some money? Or rather, to live up to, and contribute to the values that you cite?

Originally I was importing to have good quality, safe MDMA and to support the ideals we've mentioned. But eventually when you get encouraged to sell it you do feel the instinct to make money. However much I dislike that instinct.

Did you ever get sold fake pills and if so how did you respond?

Not from Silk Road. I've had bad experiences with other dealers. Pills that were PMMA. I responded by having a pretty bad weekend and never going back to that particular person.

How did you get into it in the first place? Was it already quite well-established when you got involved? I've known a few people who ordered things (and received them, and been very happy with quality!), but I've never known a seller, so also would be really interested to know what you did to set it all up in the first place. Side question - were you bricking it when you sent out your first orders? :)

Ahh I think you misunderstood. I wasn't using Silk Road to sell anything. I just used it to buy. It was pretty easy to get into... there were youtube guides and blogs with guides etc.

Why dis you only sell Molly and no other drugs?

I don't like other drugs. Weighing up the pros and cons of other drugs and MDMA is the only one I choose to risk to take.

Did the dealer on the silk road have a high review rating? Do you know how the drugs were contained?

Also please delete the post where you say you buy from friends now, especially with your name being in your proof.

The silk road seller had a high rating yes. He was very reliable. I don't think I want to discuss how they were contained. Let's just say it was stealthy.

Looking back. Would you have done anything differently? How do you feel the police acted towards you throughout the process?

Looking back the police where in fact, hilarious. They did a whole cliché good cop bad cop routine which I didn't realize at the time. I was treated with respect by the police and have respect for them doing there jobs. One police officer was a bit rude and patronizing to me but I'm sure he is just a miserable person in general.

If I could go back. I wouldn't sell a single ecstasy tablet to anyone. I still think buying off Silk Road for personal use has it's advantages but obviously now for me that ship has sailed.

Do you know how your package got flagged? That's the scariest part about SR, because you never know if your package is going to make it through without suspicion

No idea. 100 tablets was my biggest order so it might have been because of the quantity.

Just curious, what's your favorite kind of music ?

Plenty: house, disco, techno, garage, hip hop, stuff from the 80s etc

How has this screwed your personal life?

It did screw with my personal life for a long time. My girlfriend was worried about me possibly not being around. My family suffered and going to court and being on bail messed with my job etc. But now everything is great. Everyone who was supposed to stand by me did so :)

Wouldn't you agree that the birko tranny is better looking than the secombe tranny?

Is the birko tranny the one on the bike? I don't know what the seacombe tranny looks like sorry

Any advice to people who is involved in the buying/selling of similar drugs, given your experiences?

Is it to cliché to just say stop?

did you ever end up on the spice merchants site of the same name accidentally?

Yes. Yes I did.

Was it just bad luck that got the package flagged coming to you, or an OPSEC issue somewhere up the chain?

No idea sorry. I know they were cracking down on the packages at the time so maybe it was an operation.

What drove you to actually do such a thing?

It just seemed easy and there was a bit of a buzz about the Silk Road online which I was drawn into.

Here's my question.. why on earth are you doing this AMA? Do internet points really mean that much that you're willing to go on record and in writing all the things you're telling us?

I realize most of the things are already public record but the fact remains is you're almost bragging that you got away with it. Hope this doesn't get used against you if you end up back in court.

I'm just not "getting" this one.

Ever since the ordeal I've wanted to tell my story really. I think it's fascinating that I could've ended up in jail and ruined my life completely over what I did. It blows my mind that it was that easy to make those mistakes and I'm still hearing and seeing that more people are using Silk Road-esque sites, right now.

I tried to look into the fact that I am serving a suspended sentence and if I could talk about what happened to me. But I figured that if I had already said all this IN COURT, TO A JUDGE. Then surely I can talk about it here?

I don't want to brag about anything I've done. It just fascinates me so much and thought it would be interesting to other people.

How on earth were you guys able to send illegal substances through the mail?

You can find this out by researching how Silk Road works :)

looks at Proof2 again

Erm, I'll pass.

I understand :) I would never attempt anything like that again. It is a relatively low chance of getting caught, but if you do it could be your life over.

The point of an AMA is to answer questions. Answering a question by essentially saying "you can find that out by looking it up" is not an answer. If you still can't be bothered to answer, maybe at least point us in the right direction to finding the answer.

Well in answer to the original question I can only say what I have heard from other people:

The UK customs control can't afford to employ teams of sniffer dogs and employees to scan every single item of mail at every port in the UK 24/7. So this means that some packages are hardly even checked when they enter the UK. They check mainly for anomalies in the address/name of the recipient and also scrutinize packages without a return address more.

This allows people to send anything through the mail to the UK with a chance of it not being scanned, sniffed or looked at in any way.

Well you were lucky there! But i always was curious since i first heard of the silk road, how do they sent the drugs to your address without them being seized/found at the various post offices, customs, xray scans etc? And how did you come up with the courage to order drugs to be sent to your address for the first time?

My knowledge of customs is that they don't scan all items and don't have sniffer dogs all the time. They can't physically check every package.

You still smoke the dank?

As in cannabis? I don't smoke it, never enjoyed it. It's not a very productive drug to me, don't get anything out of it.

Can you describe in detail what happened when the police showed up to your door?

They asked to enter, I let them into the front room. They asked me if I was expecting a package and I said I had no clue what they were here for. They handcuffed me, arrested me and went to search the house. They confiscated some evidence (phone, computer, laptop) and took me to the custody suite.

why does it seem like the USA's justice system is so fucked compared to every other free country?

You'd be in prison for life here.

I'm not sure but I know Prison in USA is a lot worse.

Whats your favorite color?

Not sure I have one. Navy, brown and green in that order :')

With a color line up like that I needs to ask. Are you color blind?

Probably just boring!

Did you learn your lesson (to not use drugs)?

That's not the lesson I took from the experience, no.

Is it just me who feels uncomfortable about giving a criminal 'air time'? Someone who openly admits to buying, importing, and wanting to sell drugs isn't someone who we should be entertaining.

Well first and foremost I'm a computer nerd, gamer, boyfriend, friend and worker in that order :P

I in fact don't import or sell drugs any more and believe I have learnt my lesson.

Thanks for the post though x