The Public Prosecution Service (OM) has demanded prison sentences ranging from 27 months to 12 years against six suspects involved in the trade of narcotics via various dark web markets. Under the name Team Sonic, the organization sold hard drugs on a large scale. They concealed the orders in dog or cat food and shipped them by post to foreign countries. This mega trial has been allocated five days.
The investigation by the Postal Intervention Team of the National Expertise and Operations Unit started on October 5, 2021, based on decrypted EncroChat messages. The chats reveal seven suspects who are jointly involved in the production, export, and sale of narcotics by post. These include six men and one woman aged between 32 and 49 from Roermond (4), Maastricht, and Maarheze. One suspect is detained in Spain. In the chats, they exchange photos of drugs, parcels, and firearms and discuss large orders from Denmark, Romania, the Czech Republic, and Belgium.
Packs of amphetamine
In addition to the wealth of information from the decrypted chats, the police are also conducting live investigations into the organization. The observation team sees one of the men offering at least ten packages at a parcel point in Germany. It later turns out that amphetamine is contained in these packages. It also quickly becomes clear that the organization continues its activities despite the shutdown of encrypted chat services and dark web provider Dark Market. Team Sonic has made as many as 8347 sales between December 3, 2019, and November 22, 2022.
“Team Sonic was a well-organized, thriving seller on the dark web. The assortment was diverse, and drugs were exported on a large scale. For sending the drugs, service points of DHL were misused, making this company an unwitting distributor of narcotics,” said the prosecutor.
Pen guns
The shipment of the packages with drugs always takes place via German post offices or parcel points. When Germany manages to intercept some packages from these suspects, the investigation team decides to arrest the suspects. On November 29, 2022, the police arrest five men, with the woman following later. During searches of eleven homes, detectives find large quantities of narcotics, including amphetamine, MDMA, methamphetamine, and ketamine. The police also discover two firearms, ammunition, and even pen guns that can actually be fired.
Sonic figurine
At a packing location of the organization, the police find various packaging materials and a roll of stickers with hearts reading Handmade with love.” These stickers are found on envelopes containing amphetamine. Additionally, detectives find a figurine of Sonic that was used for photographing the drug offerings on the dark web, including cocaine residues.
The public prosecutor of the National Prosecutors Office demanded prison sentences against six suspects on Friday. The sentence for the man still detained in Spain will follow later.
The court will announce its verdict on July 25.