Juvenile Ran Online Drug Empire From Bedroom, Got Paid In Bitcoin
A German court has sentenced a young man to seven years’ juvenile detention for running a multi-million-euro online drug business from his bedroom in his mother’s apartment, according to The Guardian , the London, U.K.-based newspaper. The man sold nearly one ton of drugs on the Darknet and the open Internet, taking payment in bitcoin and delivering drugs by registered mail.
Police described the operation as highly sophisticated. The man, referred to as Maximilian S, rented computer servers in the Netherlands and used IP addresses throughout Germany. He also encrypted his email, took payment in bitcoin and used bank accounts set up with false identifications.
Andre Kuhnert, the prosecutor, said the man wanted to be the greatest in the online drug business.
Neighbors Found Drugs, Called Police
Police nabbed the man after neighbors opened a mail parcel containing drugs in the hallway outside his apartment and called the police, according to Bild, the German newspaper. The parcel’s supplier was not yet identified, Bild reported. 
The defendant, called the “bedroom dealer,” engaged in highly criminal activity since 2013, according to presiding Judge Norbert Goebel of the Saxony state high court in Leipzig.
The man, now 20, sold prescription pills, LSD, ecstasy tablets, hashish, and cocaine. He sold 914 kilos of drugs valued at 4 million euros ($4.4 million USD). Police discovered 300 kilos when police arrested him in February.
Prosecutors sought eight years and eight months of juvenile detention behind bars for the defendant. The defense called for six and a half years.
Defendant Confesses
The man’s full confession weighed in his favor, even though he displayed no true regret to the court, the judge said.
According to a psychiatric evaluation, the defendant displayed “disturbed social behavior” and lacked emotional security. His mother testified that her son was once a “wild child” who became a loner, never went on holidays and had no girlfriend. She also said he had barred her from his room for two years.
Images from Shutterstock.
