Convicted heroin dealer testifies about his Silk Road sales during trial

HAVE you ever wondered what drives someone to sell drugs online? A convicted heroin dealer has come clean about his business during Silk Road trial.

DESPITE never having sold drugs on the street, a bearded man wearing an inmate uniform sat in front of Manhattan federal court jurors as a convicted heroin dealer.

Michael Duch was convicted of shipping bags of heroin to almost 3,000 buyers across the U.S. via the anonymous online marketplace known as the Silk Road.

While he is just one of many drug dealers who sold every kind of narcotic imaginable on the website during its two-and-a-half year reign, his story could be vital for prosecutors as they move closer to finishing their case against the underground website’s alleged operator, Ross Ulbricht.

Questioned under oath, Duch told the court he had been arrested outside a post office while trying to ship a package of heroin in October of 2013.

He explained he pleaded guilty to narcotics trafficking before agreeing to testify against Ulbricht in hopes of lessening his sentence.

However, the testimony had very little to do with Mr Ulbricht.

It appeared the aim was to demonstrate how the website fuelled the addictions of desperate drug users.

The 40-year-old testified that he first became hooked on drugs in 2007 while taking prescription painkillers for sporting injuries.

He quickly made the transition to heroin as it was more cost effective and potent than the painkillers.

Then in 2012, he began to source the drug off Silk Road under the user name “Deezletime”.

By April 2013, Mr Duch had developed a heroin addiction that cost him up to $4,500 a week.

Struggling to meet the finical burden of his addiction, he turned to dealing on the website.

“I think being successful in purchasing drugs on Silk Road, I saw the relative ease that came with it, he said.

“There was a perceived level of safety and anonymity.

“I felt I could get away with it.”

Mr Duch explained how he would purchase heroin for $3.80 a bag from a street dealer in New Jersey and then sell it for double the price on Silk Road.

Eventually he was shipping between 400 to 600 bags of heroin every day and was making $77,000 to $90,000 a month.

In order to avoid detection by drug-sniffing dogs, Mr Duch followed Silk Road’s online instructions for vendors that advised dealers to carefully wrap the heroin in moisture-barrier packets.

He also explained how he advertised same-day shipping on his Silk Road vendor page to meet the needs of addicts who were going through withdrawal.

During the testimony, prosecutor Serrin Turner read aloud from messages sent to Duch from his customers.

“I just want to check [on the shipment] because I am extremely dope sick and NEED something right now,” one user wrote.

“I’m throwing up, the worst of the worst withdrawal symptoms, and plus I have life-destroying pain,” wrote another.

When asked about his role in fuelling the drug addiction of others Mr Duch said he was filled with guilt

“It was something that bothered me on a daily basis,” he said.

The trial continues.