Dov Tenenboim: Dark web drug importer sentence hearing
Blockbuster testimony from a criminal mastermind has revealed the drug smuggling secrets of Dov Tenenboim - once Australia’s most prominent dark web drug dealer.
Central Sydney
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The secrets of a criminal mastermind, who used the dark web to build a lucrative drug empire across the entire east coast of Australia, have been laid bare in court as he stars down the potential of spending the rest of his life in jail.
Dov Tenenboim, 35, of Vaucluse had pleaded guilty to importing a commercial quantity of a border-controlled drug between April 2017 and June 2018 and trafficking a commercial amount of a controlled drug across the country for a month in 2017.
In a sentence hearing before Judge Ian McClintock, the court heard Tenenboim used the dark web to source the illegal drugs, paying bitcoin for cocaine, MDMA, ecstasy and ketamine which would arrive in Australia by post disguised in soup tins, baby formula cans and candles.
Building a relationship with the international drug lord behind the illegal shipments, Tenenboim then launched his own ‘franchise’ drugstore on the dark web and built his own empire selling to organised crime groups and individuals, the court heard.
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One of his clients included members of the Albanian organised crime group in Melbourne, who the crown allege bought one kilogram of cocaine for $165,000 as part of Tenenboim’s operation.
Crown prosecutor Adam McGrath alleged Tenenboim was responsible for 15 international drug importations, with one of the deliveries including 1850 Versace branded MDMA pills, concealed inside eight candles. The Sydney man confessed to a number of the importations, but disputed being responsible for about five of the shipments.
An international drug lord, who can’t be identified for legal reasons, gave evidence that Tenenboim was his largest global customer with the pair communicating on encrypted mobile application Wickr after meeting on the dark web.
The man said he would import to Tenenboim, on a good week, about 15 parcels of drugs with a regular bulk order often including 2kg of cocaine, 5000 MDMA pills, 2kg of MDMA rock and a kilogram of ketamine.
When Tenenboim went to South Africa for a month in late 2018, the international drug lord came to Australia and managed the domestic empire while also overseeing his own global importation operation. The court heard Tenenboim disputes this was the case, saying the man was trying to build his own drug network in the country.
The sentence hearing continues before Judge Ian McClintock.