3 Indian-origin men jailed for 24 years in UK drug bust

IANS

London, September 9

Three Indian-origin men have been sentenced to a combined jail-term of 24 years in the UK for running a large-scale counterfeit Class-C drug supply operation on the dark web, police said.

Allen Valentine, 63; his son Roshan Valentine, 39; and Roshan's childhood friend Krunal Patel, 40; were sentenced at the Isleworth Crown Court on Thursday for producing and selling Benzodiazepines, a type of sedative.

The trio also had several accounts on different dark web markets and advertised the sale of Xanax, Diazepam and in the past Valium, and made at least 2 million pounds in illicit profit, the Met Police's Cyber Crime Unit, which led the investigation, said.

The court handed down a prison term of 11 years to Allen Valentine, seven years to his son Roshan and six years to Patel.

"The three men ran a sophisticated, large-scale production of fake pharmaceutical drugs sold on the dark web that appeared to be genuine. Their operation was solely for the greed of those involved bearing no concern for the vulnerabilities of those purchasing these drugs," Detective Constable Alex Hawkins of the Met's Cyber Crime Unit, who led the investigation, said.

“Some of the drugs contained completely different chemicals from those which should be in the genuine tablets; some of them are extremely dangerous."

Detectives began the investigation in January 2022, following which they discovered the three men were visiting a warehouse unit at Acton Business Centre from where the drugs were produced, packaged and supplied.

Each of the men visited the unit on a daily basis, often staying for much of the day.

Krunal Patel would frequently leave with large bags, returning 10 to 15 minutes later without the contents of the bags.

Users would purchase the drugs on the dark web, paying in cryptocurrency, which were then posted.

Detectives found that the men converted two million pounds from cryptocurrency into fiat currency (sterling).

Their accounts have been frozen by police. 

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