Former Lincolnshire man jailed for nine years for selling drugs on dark web

Donatas Kasputis, 35, of Breckland Road, Norwich, but formerly of Boston, appeared before Norwich Crown Court in relation to the offences yesterday (Wednesday, May 22), the force has reported.

A spokesman for Lincolnshire Police said the case began with the Cyber Investigations team at the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU) making enquiries into the username Beatyhouse2015 (and later Goodgear) after it was found to be active on several dark web market places.

The dark web is made up of a number of untraceable online websites. Specific software and search engines must be used to access the websites.

Detectives identified 76kgs of illegal drug sales – including cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), and mephedrone (4-MMC, MCAT) – over a 14-month period between May 2022 and July 2023. They also identified names and addresses of more than 550 drug buyers who had been using Goodgear.

The username was linked to an individual in Boston, Lincolnshire, who had subsequently moved to Norfolk. On 14 occasions, over a 24-day period, the suspect dispatched a total of 174 parcels, often between 10 and 30 packages daily.

The suspect was identified through a DNA profile, the spokesman continued. While it did not match anyone on UK forensic databases, Kasputis was identified when information was shared with international partners through the Prüm agreement.

Named after the treaty signed in the German town in 2005, the agreement enables UK law enforcement to quickly trace suspects or link crimes by sharing forensic information, including DNA profiles, through other member states’ databases for the purpose of solving crime, the spokesman explained. While such information sharing has been possible through existing Interpol processes, Prüm streamlines and speeds up the stages, they said.

In July 2023, Kasputis was arrested at a post office in Norfolk, the spokesman continued. In his possession were 16 packages containing 4-MMC and a small amount of cannabis, they said. Subsequent searches at his home address in Norwich, supported by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU), identified 130g of cocaine, more than 1,300 tablets of MDMA, 6.4kg of mephedrone and just over 1.4kg of cannabis.

Kasputis pleaded guilty to:

• two counts of being concerned in the supply of a Class A drug (namely cocaine and MDMA) to another;
• two counts of being concerned in the supply of a Class B drug (namely mephedrone and cannabis) to another;
• two counts of possessing a Class A drug (namely cocaine and MDMA) with intent to supply;
• and two counts of possessing a Class B drug (namely mephedrone and cannabis) with intent to supply.

On sentencing, His Honour Judge Pugh said Kasputis played a significant role, further aggravated by his destruction of evidence, the spokesman said.

Det Insp Jonathan Naylor, from EMSOU’s regional cyber crime unit, said: “This man was operating on the dark web and a cloud-based messaging app as an illegal drugs vendor. He would receive orders and then dispatch them to buyers both in the UK and internationally.

“Similar to other types of cyber crime, the use of the internet and dark web allows individuals to sell to a much wider market, crossing county and country borders, which would normally require much larger organised crime groups.

“Our joint investigation, supported by the National Crime Agency and ERSOU, really demonstrated a Team Cyber UK approach to international investigation and enabled us to identify the scale and extent of Kasputis' activity.

“Using the dark web is often seen as anonymous and vendors often claim to protect their buyers, but the information on those 550 people we were able to identify as buying drugs from Goodgear have been shared with the relevant police forces.”

The team at EMSOU has established Operation Torch to identify cyber criminality facilitated by the dark web across the region.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.