THE TIMES: Dealers use spy tactic to deliver drugs and arms

Description

Dark web users are adopting the espionage tactic of “dead drops” to deliver drugs and other illegal items, a report reveals. The dealers hide packages in “suitably discreet offline locations” and make their map coordinates available to the customer on the dark web, the secretive online world in which users can trade illegal drugs, guns and stolen bank details. Researchers have raised concerns that firearms dealers might be deploying similar methods to distribute weapons because it removes the risk of sending illegal parts through the mail. The report by the research institute Rand Europe and Judith Aldridge, professor of criminology at Manchester University, says: “This particular innovation should be further monitored in connection with firearm selling, where the challenges and risks of postal delivery for bulky weapons seem greater than small, lightweight and stealthy drug deliveries.”