Online trading on the Internet is developing incredibly rapidly. New technologies are doing everything so that people can put a minimum of effort to meet their needs. For example, now you can purchase clothes, groceries, medicines and much more, without leaving your home. Couriers purchased goods from online stores will be delivered carefully right to your doorstep, although delivery will most likely have to be paid for.
Drugs have become popular much earlier. If scientists are to be believed, the history of their appearance goes far back, a few thousand years before our era. In the 18-19 centuries, the so-called drug lords began to appear - people supplying drugs to almost everyone who had money for them. Often they did not hide their identities, although the trade in harmful substances was illegal.
Of course, sooner or later, law enforcement agencies still traveled to them. Many drug lords have ended their lives in prisons, and some are still serving life sentences.
It soon became apparent that the development of technology made the trafficking of narcotic substances on the streets too dangerous. Therefore, in 2011, a group of people decided to use these weapons in their own interests. SilkRoad was created - one of the largest online stores that sell drugs.
The site functioned in the anonymous network TOR and gained popularity much faster than any other store. Bitcoins were used to buy drugs - a virtual currency with which real dollars were exchanged. According to The Verge, for two years of operation of the site, the total amount of all operations on SilkRoad exceeded one billion dollars. Over time, SilkRoad has expanded its specialization in the sale of weapons and hiring killers, although this information has not been officially confirmed yet.
Who is behind all this drug empire? The owner of the online store calls himself "The Terrible Pirate Roberts," and until recently his identity remained a mystery even to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Nevertheless, on October 1, Reuters news agency reported on the arrest of the Pirate - it turned out to be 29-year-old Ross William Ulbricht, an education engineer.
As a result, SilkRoad was closed, and its domain was blocked by law enforcement. After these news, the course of "bitcoins" has seriously collapsed, but now the situation has stabilized.
It is noteworthy that just six weeks before this, Forbes was able to interview Roberts. Then he said that he was not afraid of criminal prosecution and considered himself not a drug seller, but the owner of an online trading platform.
According to unofficial data, at the beginning of this year, one of the SilkRoad users began to blackmail Ulbricht and threatened to extradite not only all online store suppliers, but also buyers to the authorities. For his silence, he asked for half a million dollars, but the owner of the portal decided to save money and found the killer using his own website. The fate of the mysterious "whistleblower" can only be guessed at.
In September, the FBI began a close watch on the TOR network. Sensing something was wrong, online drug store Atlantis, SilkRoad's main competitor, immediately announced its closure. Ross did not follow the example of Atlantis and most likely regretted it seriously.
He was arrested in a library in San Francisco. It is not excluded that the investigation will require a life sentence for the owner of SilkRoad, and the trial may last more than one year.
The editors of Hi-News.ru declare their strictly negative attitude towards the use and distribution of narcotic substances and remind you that the illegal production, sale or transfer of drugs is prosecuted in accordance with article 228 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation.
The article is based on materials .
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