Dealers use Telegram to sell drugs at reduced prices; international networks dismantled by authorities
Sellers of banned substances use encrypted applications to contact customers directly, even offering promotional discounts. Coordinated investigations by the Romanian Police and DIICOT have led to the dismantling of dark net platforms with hundreds of thousands of users.
Dealers use Telegram to sell drugs at reduced prices; international networks dismantled by authorities
Encrypted applications have radically changed the way banned substances are sold. According to Ziare.com, sellers use Telegram and similar platforms to establish direct contact with buyers, offering preferential prices to loyal customers. A concrete example: when purchasing ten units, the customer receives two free.
Law enforcement forces from Romania, Spain, Germany, Sweden, Portugal and the USA collaborated to dismantle a dark net platform dedicated to drug trafficking. The website had over 600,000 users, and the administrator, a German national, accumulated revenue of over 30 million euros. Payments were made in virtual currencies to conceal the identity of participants, according to the cited source.
On the domestic front, Operation "BLIZZARD", conducted by the Romanian Police together with DIICOT, targeted channels for transporting parcels and persons on the Eastern Europe – Romania route. The investigations revealed that some distributors were even operating in secondary schools.
In large university cities, distribution structures have become fragmented. Instead of the pyramid hierarchies of the past, small local groups now operate, comprised of a few individuals who deliver drugs and new psychoactive substances directly to end users. At the same time, the age of those consuming banned substances has fallen steadily.
The phenomenon has even reached state institutions. A student at the Police Academy in Cluj, admitted in 2024, was expelled after being questioned as a witness in a DIICOT case and admitting that he had purchased and used psychoactive substances approximately 60 times. The young man had omitted this information from his application, and his appeal was rejected by judges. Two other students at the "Vasile Lascăr" Police Academy in Câmpina, caught with drugs in the past, subsequently graduated and became officers.
Major seizures have taken place in recent years. In 2023, 1.5 tonnes of cocaine, valued at over 45 million euros, were found in Constanța port. Furthermore, nearly two tonnes of cocaine washed ashore on the Black Sea beaches in a large-scale operation, with an estimated wholesale value of 200 million euros and approximately 600 million euros at retail. The offenders had purchased two speedboats, an SUV, rented six vehicles and two guest houses in the Danube Delta to recover the cargo from the water and bring it ashore.
Source: Google News RO — Crime (ro)