Man jailed for selling 76kg of drugs on dark web

Donatas Kasputis was arrested at a Post Office and was found carrying 16 drug packages

A man who sold 76kg (168lb) of drugs on the dark web has been jailed for nine years.

Police said Donatas Kasputis used the username "Goodgear" to sell cocaine, ecstasy and mephedrone to 550 buyers across the UK and abroad.

The 35-year-old, of Breckland Road, Costessey, near Norwich, was arrested at a post office in July carrying 16 packages of drugs.

He pleaded guilty to eight offences at Norwich Crown Court, including two counts of being concerned in the supply of Class A drugs.

• What is the dark web?

Police said they discovered Kasputis's drug operation after the cyber investigations team at the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) began making enquiries into the username "Beatyhouse2015", which later became "Goodgear''.

It was linked to a profile in Boston, Lincolnshire, which had subsequently moved to Norfolk, and was sending up to 30 packages a day.

Officers said the suspect was eventually identified through DNA profiling when they shared information with "international partners", under the Prüm Agreement.

Police say Kasputis would receive orders and then dispatch drugs

When Kasputis was arrested his home was searched and police found 130g (50z) of cocaine, 1,300 ecstasy tablets, 6.4kg of mephedrone (14lb) and more than 1.4kg (3lb) of cannabis.

Det Insp Jonathan Naylor, from EMSOU's Regional Cyber Crime Unit, said: "Similar to other types of cyber crime, the use of the internet and dark web allows individuals to sell to a much wider market, crossing county and country borders, which would normally require much larger organised crime groups.

"Using the dark web is often seen as anonymous and vendors often claim to protect their buyers, but the information on those 550 people we were able to identify as buying drugs from 'Goodgear' have been shared with the relevant police forces."