Dark Web Drug Dealers Specialised in ‘party packs’

Ryan McManus and Ryan Milligan

Two drug traffickers, who ran a drug ‘party pack’ import export business, have today been jailed for a total of 14 years. When investigators arrested the men in August 2013, they seized almost 40 orders, containing 15 different Class A and B drugs, awaiting dispatch to customers in the US, Russia, Sweden, Ireland Greece, Israel as well as within the UK.? ?Today during sentencing in Belfast Crown Court, Judge McFarland said: “This was a very detailed investigation on a major drug operation which had the potential to inflict major damage on the wider community.” Ryan Michael Millligan and Ryan Thomas McManus, both from Northern Ireland, used the ‘Silk Road’ – a hidden part of the internet - to move illegal drugs including cocaine, MDMA, herbal cannabis and mephedrone into and out of the UK. Their associate Conor Devenney who was employed as a courier, was convicted, but died before sentencing.

The investigation, started by SOCA in partnership with the FBI and the PSNI, showed that Milligan and McManus, using aliases Sonicdrone and Blackwater86, would order the drugs through digital communication such as emails, website forums and instant messaging services, using suppliers in the Netherlands, China and North America. They paid with virtual currencies such as Bitcoin or money transfer services. They also accepted Bitcoin as payment from their customers.? 

The drugs would be shipped to Northern Ireland through legitimate courier services to either ‘virtual’ addresses or to the address of a trusted associate. They would then be delivered by Devenney to Milligan or McManus.
 
Analysis of computers seized after their arrest showed they also used the ‘Silk Road’ to advertise their services to the worldwide market. Evidence from the FBI’s original Silk Road take down in September 2013 showed they facilitated 300 bespoke orders in the 15 month period between May 2012 and July 2013. 
National Crime Agency:  http://bit.ly/1IY2gjS