Bitcoin funds DarkWeb drug trafficker!!

Joel Paul Prime, 32, admitted using Bitcoin to buy hundreds of ecstasy pills, ketamine and prescription medication as well as synthetic psychedelics and hallucinogenic sheets on the dark web.

But an “extremely intelligent” Prime, suffering depression and “financial duress” after his engagement break-up, was caught using a registered post office box at Port Neill, near his parent’s farm, 80km north-east of Port Lincoln.

Authorities said some drugs, purchased on untraceable parts of the web, had never before been found in the state or were so rare they had no intelligence about its use or prices.

Joel Prime is facing jail for using the Dark Web and Bitcoin for drug trafficking. Picture: Facebook
Prime, whose farming family are highly respected in the Eyre Peninsula community, faces up to 10 years in jail or a maximum $360,000 fine after pleading guilty to more than a dozen state and federal drug trafficking and importing charges.

Prosecutors dropped three other counts.

Australian Border Force officers and Port Lincoln CIB detectives launched an investigation into the sophisticated operation in June last year after a tip-off that drugs were being sent through the post in packages or DVDs.

During a sentencing submissions hearing in Adelaide, the District Court was told that, over the next two months, several suspected drugs packages were seized from the Port Neill post office.

Another package was seized in Adelaide, originating from Poland, court documents state.

When Federal authorities raided his parents’ isolated rural home in September last year, they discovered more drugs, testing equipment and packaging as well as other drug-related paraphernalia, according to a court tendered statement of agreed facts.

When announcing details of the arrest last year, authorities warned of the harm that drug dealing causes.