Tom Booker – alleged head of dark-web drug syndicate – hit with new charges including LSD, cocaine and MDMA trafficking

An ex-cop who allegedly ran a multimillion-dollar dark-web drug operation has been hit with 49 new charges – including that he trafficked massive amounts of LSD.

A former police officer alleged to be at the heart of a multimillion-dollar dark-web drug syndicate has been hit with almost 50 new drug trafficking charges.

Thomas Booker was arrested in November last year at a property in Kings Park where police have said he was caught “red-handed” preparing to send drugs in the mail.

At the time police said they had been monitoring Mr Booker as he attended a PO box at a nearby post office where significant amounts of drugs were being sent and received.

He and two other co-accused, accountant and Mr Booker’s partner Erin Gold and barman Ryan Suri-Tucker, were charged with 11 counts of drug trafficking and money laundering.

On Tuesday, the Adelaide Magistrates Court heard prosecutors were laying a new court file containing a total of 60 charges.

Tom Booker (left) and Erin Gold (right) have been accused of running a multimillion-dollar dark side crypto currency empire.

Court documents reveal Mr Booker is the subject of all 60 charges, though 31 of the charges are his alone.

Mr Booker is charged with trafficking in psilocin, a psychedelic drug derived from mushrooms and DMT, a strong hallucinogenic that is the base of concentrated liquid drug ayahuasca.

He is also charged with 16 counts of trafficking large commercial quantities of LSD and 12 counts of trafficking in commercial quantities of the drugs.

The new file is a win of sorts for Ms Gold who now faces only charges relating to the drugs found at the couple’s home on November 22, 2021 when the house was raided.

She was initially charged with being an integral part of Mr Booker’s alleged online drug trafficking empire.

Erin Gold is one of three people charged over a multimillion-dollar dark web cryptocurrency operation.

Ryan Suri-Tucker is one of three people charged over a multi-million dollar dark web cryptocurrency operation.

Under current legislation, the minimum amount of LSD to be classified as a large commercial quantity is 15g of the pure form of the drug or more than 100 tabs.

The new charges against Mr Brooker mean he is facing new accusations of trafficking at least 1600 tabs of the drug along with smaller quantities of MDMA and cannabis.

During bail applications for Ms Gold and Mr Suri-Tucker the court heard the trio were accused of running a dark-web operation using the name ‘Underline Cost’.

The operation was allegedly netting the trio as much as $25,000 a day as they received and mailed quantities of drugs to online users.

A seizure application by the Director of Public Prosecutions showed authorities were moving to seize $466,752 in the cryptocurrency bitcoin as well as $122,123.42 in monero – a “privacy coin” linked to online money laundering and drug trafficking because of its untraceable nature.

Judge Karen Thomas froze the cryptocurrencies as well as $820,000 in cash seized during police raids and $174,703 in bank accounts belonging Mr Booker and Ms Gold.