How teens as young as 14 are finding drug dealers online

Police have uncovered the tricks private school kids, some as young as 14, are using to buy illicit drugs online.

Drugs seized at underage teen parties.

Teens as young as 14 from private schools are buying illicit drugs — ­including cocaine, ketamine and ­ecstasy — online via encrypted phone messaging apps to thwart police.

A Sunday Herald Sun investigation has uncovered how teens are buying drugs at the click of a button by finding dealers online that advertise on classifieds websites and lure buyers to contact them discreetly via encrypted messaging apps including Wickr.

Dealers have also been found to use street slang terms on the websites to avoid detection such as “420” for cannabis, “Charlie” for cocaine, “keta” for ketamine and “cold” for methamphetamine.

A female student, 14, who attends a private school in Melbourne’s inner east, told the Sunday Herald Sun students had regularly met up with drug dealers after school in locations including parks, carparks and shopping centres.

“If people are looking for drugs for parties, then going online is the easiest way to buy them,” she said.

“After the first purchase the dealers have then continued to message my friends and offer them discounts.

“They’ve also messaged them on a Friday to ask if they were ‘partying’ on the weekend and asked if they needed any pills or coke.”

She said she was aware of teens dealing drugs in the schoolyard.

“It’s pretty common, especially ­before big parties and even on school camps. It’s easy to hide, that’s why they keep getting away with it.”

The Sunday Herald Sun has seen various screenshots of messages sent to teens, with the dealer sending ­images of “cold” methamphetamine and other drugs on scales, saying it was “heavily discounted” for the weekend.

Teens as young as 14 are using classifieds websites to buy drugs.

An image of drugs on scales sent to young teens via Wickr.

Naomi Oakley, who runs U-Nome Security and has been in the industry for more than 20 years, said drug use was rife at under-age parties.

“What I’m seeing is an increase in illegal drug use; we suspect it’s ketamine and we suspect it’s discreetly brought into parties through empty pen cartridges,” Ms Oakley said.

Ms Oakley said drug use was common at almost 80 per cent of under-age parties.

“The problem is that they’re taking it on top of alcohol and it’s sometimes mixed with energy drinks, which contain caffeine, so it can be extremely ­lethal,” she said.

Swinburne University’s Associate Professor James Martin, an expert on cryptomarkets and the dark web trade in illicit drugs, said the amount of drugs being purchased on the clear web was on the rise.

“The problem that we have is drug dealers using brazen and out-in-the-open techniques … using Snapchat, for example,” Assoc Prof Martin said.

“You’re meeting a dealer face to face; you can do a cash transaction so you don’t need a bank account.”

An Education Department spokesman said the health and safety of students was always its top priority and there was no place for drugs in schools.

“Our schools work hard to educate students on the dangers of drugs and support those who become involved with drugs,” the spokesman said.

A Victoria Police spokesman said the supply of illicit drugs online and via social media was an evolving part of modern policing that Victoria Police was consistently monitoring.

“We will continue to investigate and charge people engaged in unlawful online activity, including the supply of illicit drugs, no matter the age or background of those they are selling to,” the spokesman said.

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