Indian forfeits $150 million for selling narcotics on dark web
Representational image. Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection
An Indian national from Haldwani, Uttarakhand, has pleaded guilty to selling controlled substances on dark web marketplaces and agreed to forfeit $150 million.
Banmeet Singh, 40, pleaded guilty on Jan 26 to conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute controlled substances and conspiracy to commit money laundering, according to a Justice Department press release. He faces an agreed-upon sentence of eight years in prison. A sentencing date has not yet been set.
According to court documents, Singh created vendor marketing sites on dark web marketplaces, such as Silk Road, Alpha Bay, Hansa, and others, to sell controlled substances, including fentanyl, LSD, ecstasy, Xanax, Ketamine, and Tramadol.
READ: Indian national Ramesh Buchirajam Akkela sentenced 33 months for smuggling drugs (March 18, 2018)
Customers ordered controlled substances from Singh using the vendor sites and by paying with cryptocurrency, the release stated. Singh then personally shipped or arranged the shipment of controlled substances from Europe to the United States through US mail or other shipping services.
From at least mid-2012 through July 2017, Singh controlled at least eight distribution cells within the United States including cells located in Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, New York, North Dakota, and Washington, among other locations.
Individuals in those distribution cells received drug shipments from overseas 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.
Over the course of the conspiracy, the Singh drug organization moved hundreds of kilograms of controlled substances throughout the United States and established a multimillion-dollar drug enterprise that laundered millions of dollars of drug proceeds into cryptocurrency accounts, which ultimately became worth approximately $150 million, the release stated.
In April 2019, Singh was arrested in London, and the United States secured his extradition in 2023.
“Banmeet Singh and traffickers like him think they can operate anonymously on the dark web and evade prosecution,” Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division stated.
“In the Singh organization’s drug orders, the members frequently used the vendor name ‘Liston’ and signed off with the signature phrase, ‘I’m still dancing’,” said US Attorney Kenneth L. Parker for the Southern District of Ohio. “Today, with Banmeet Singh’s plea of guilty, the dance is over.”
