ANU study details how dark web drug networks can elude law enforcement agencies

A new report from the Australian National University has found a concerning reality about the sale of lethal opioids on the dark web.

An Australian National University study has conceded the online war on drugs may never be won despite ongoing attempts from law enforcement agencies to disrupt networks selling lethal synthetic opioids.

The dark web is a hidden collective of internet sites only accessible by a specialised web browser.

It is the easiest marketplace for drug users to buy synthetic opioids such as fentanyl – a designer drug 80 times more potent than morphine – and a drug originally created to sedate elephants called carfentanil.

Synthetic opioids are manufactured in laboratories and designed to have a similar painkilling high associated with natural opioids such as heroin and morphine.

Although dark web take-downs by cross-border law enforcement operations have had some impact on the availability of those drugs, an ANU report has compared it to a game of whack-a-mole.

“It seems when you push one of these dark web drug markets down, another pops up and they always take on a different form to previous markets,” ANU professor of criminology Roderic Broadhurst told NCA NewsWire.

Lethal synthetic opioids such as fentanyl are available on the dark web. Picture: ANU

“Will (law enforcement agencies) ever be able to suppress them? It seems unlikely based on what we know, but that would reflect how we see the real world.

“Whenever and wherever there is a demand, there will always be a supply. It’s a game of whack-a-mole or cat-and-mouse.”

ANU researchers tracked trends to measure changes in the cost and availability of opioids and the number of online dealers selling them.

The researchers looked at eight of the biggest markets from January to December 2019.

Those markets included big fish such as Apollon, Empire, Dream, Nightmare, Tochka (aka Point), Berlusconi, Valhalla (aka Silkitie) and Wall Street.

But in April 2019, researchers found three new markets – Agartha, Dream Alt and Samsara – had popped up after Wall Street and Valhalla were seized by law enforcement agencies, while Dream voluntarily closed.

The dark web is the most common way for drug dealers to sell synthetic opioids.

Within these markets, Australian vendors or dealers are importing opioids from overseas.

Cody Ward (darknet alias “NSWGreat”) was a long-time Australian dark web market vendor who, with the assistance of others, supplied NSW with $17m worth of imported drugs.

NSW Police Strike Force Royden, with support from Australia Post, intercepted 85 parcels containing prohibited drugs that led to the arrest of Mr Ward and his co-conspirators in February 2019.

He was charged in May 2019 with both state and federal drug offences.

Professor Broadhurst said law enforcement agencies were at least making it difficult for dark web drug dealers to sell dangerous opioids.

Fentanyl pills. Picture: supplied

Dr Rick Brown, deputy director of thee Australian Institute of Criminology, said research indicated how crucial it was for law enforcement agencies to continue pursuing dark web criminals.

“This report has shown that darknet markets are complex. Vendors move quickly to sell their products elsewhere when markets shut down, and it’s not until several major markets closed that we saw a real impact on total opioid listings,” Dr Brown said.

Originally published as ANU study details how dark web drug networks can elude law enforcement agencies