A drug dealer who sold cannabis and magic mushrooms on the “dark web” service Silk Road has been jailed for two years.



Cei William Owens was arrested with six other Britons last year by the National Crime Agency (NCA) as part of an international sting on Silk Road 2.0 – an online market designed to let people buy and sell illegal drugs and other unlawful goods and services anonymously.

The 29-year-old later pleaded guilty to two charges of supplying or offering to supply class A and B drugs, as well as three counts of possession.

Swansea crown court heard Owens went under the online pseudonym of Johnny Alpha and carried out drug deals using the digital currency Bitcoin as part of his “organised and sophisticated” mail order-style service. As well as advertising “quality hash”, he promised free next-day delivery, offering to send illegal substances via first-class registered post.

Following a raid at his home in north Wales last year, detectives found drugs, digital scales and encryption software installed on his computer.

Despite a defence plea to hand out a suspended sentence, recorder Ian Murphy QC said he had no choice but to impose an immediate prison sentence on Owens. He said: “The nature of your operation was both sophisticated and very well organised. Photographic exhibits show that a room in your house had been turned into a distribution centre and you had numerous customer feedback on your dark web profile.

“You even boasted that you would not sell anything that you would not take yourself. However, you did not know and did not care who you were selling to – they may have been children or vulnerable people.”

Prosecutor Clare Wilks said a search warrant was executed at Owens’ home in Aberdovey on 6 November last year. Cannabis, MDMA and legal highs with a street value of more than £1,700 were recovered, as well as heat-sealing machines.

Wilks said: “Using the name Johnny Alpha, the defendant operated on four dark web sites – where orders were paid using the online unregulated currency Bitcoin. When orders were placed he would then send the drugs through by post.”

Owens bragged that his homegrown cannabis was “quality hash” and had been given a 4.9 out of 5 rating online by other dark web users.

Despite police finding stamps from the Netherlands and Canada, the defendant insisted he only posted drugs to UK addresses.

Wilks said it was difficult to assess how much money the defendant made from his drug deals given Bitcoin’s continued fluctuation.

Bitcoins can be transferred between online profiles, used to buy legal and illegal items online, or cashed out.

Defending barrister Paul Hobson told Murphy that Owens had an unorthodox upbringing where drug taking was the norm in his family home. He also said Owens’ main business had been selling the class B drug cannabis, and that only 20g of class A magic mushrooms were sold.

Online black market Silk Road was launched in 2011 and led to more than $200m (£129m) of anonymous online drug sales.

Earlier this year, its 31-year-old creator, Ross Ulbricht, was sentenced to life in prison by a US judge for a raft of charges including distributing drugs through the internet, conspiring to commit computer hacking, and money laundering.

After the FBI took down the site, a second – Silk Road 2.0 – was launched. That was also shut down by authorities in the US and led to a series of raids in the UK.

NCA area commander Peter Smith said: “The realisation that you can be tracked and identified on the dark web is beginning to sink in for online criminals.

“Selling drugs this way is just like any other organised crime network – it takes time and effort to investigate and build a criminal case, but we are determined and will continue to prosecute people who deal drugs and commit serious crime using the dark web.”

A proceeds of crime investigation into how much money Owens made during his 11-month operation will conclude later this year.