5 charged in $2.8M dark web drug trafficking, money laundering conspiracy

A federal grand jury has indicted five individuals alleged to be members of one of the most prolific online drug trafficking organizations in the United States. The indictment was returned and unsealed in Cincinnati.
 
According to the 21-count indictment, since 2013, co-conspirators used several dark web marketplace accounts and encrypted messaging apps in order to sell illegal drugs online.
 
The defendants allegedly specialized in the manufacturing and distribution of more than one million fentanyl-laced counterfeit pills and laundered approximately $2.8 million over the course of the conspiracy. The pressed fentanyl pills, along with heroin, methamphetamine and cocaine, were shipped to the Southern District of Ohio and throughout the country.