India’s Narcotics Control Bureau have arrested 'crypto king' who has used Bitcoins to purchase drugs on dark web.  The probe by Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) disclosed that the suspect Makarand P Adivirka also known as Crypto King received cash and expedited the bitcoin deal at a small margin.

The probe discovered that Adivirkar acceptable cash and facilitated the bitcoin deal at a small margin representative icon.

In November 2020, a unit of NCB Mumbai had seized over 20 LSD blots from Kharodi Village in Malad. The seized psychotropic matter was purchased from Europe by using bitcoin by a drug peddler from Mumbai, said Zonal Director of the Mumbai Unit of NCB, Sameer Wankhede, as quoted by Free Press Journal.

He stated that the accused was caught up in providing bitcoin to effect the acquisition of LSD in November 2020 from abroad. The probe discovered that Adivirkar received cash and expedited the bitcoin deal at a small margin. "His modus operandi was to adopt cash, and furnish bitcoins on marginal profits by using his wallet that was used to purchase drugs from the darknet," NCB Director specified.

Bitcoins and other forms of cryptocurrency are frequently used on the dark web. Websites on dark web are not scale and not indexed on search engine and hence cannot be accessed through everyday search engines -- for illicit transactions.

A cryptocurrency is a digital or virtual currency that is locked by cryptography, that makes it impossible to counterfeit or double-spend. Ethereum,  Bitcoin and other digital currencies can be sent from individual to individual on the peer-to-peer system without the demand for intermediaries. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies use peer-to-peer technology and there is no intermediary like central bank or payment institution the dark web, cryptocurrency is frequently used for illicit and illegal activities

There were alleged claims circulating that Crypto King used Wazir X, India's largest crypto exchange for drugs transactions. In a tweet Wazir X has clarified regarding this matter - "On June 11, 2021, WazirX had received an email from the NCB enquiring about the said accused and his trading activity on WazirX. Upon checking our records, we identified that the accused is not a WazirX user, and we communicated the same to the authorities on June 12, 2021.That being said, we want to reiterate that WazirX follows global best practises on KYC and AML compliances and has a robust transaction monitoring system in place. We perform a stringent KYC verification of every user to verify their identity as well as perform a secondary KYC verification through linked bank accounts of users before allowing a customer to transact on WazirX.We allow only KYC-verified and whitelisted accounts to withdraw funds from our exchange."

Vandana Mrigwani

CBW - External Analyst

INDIA