COLUMBUS, Ohio — A man who lives in the United Kingdom pleaded guilty in federal court to charges in a dark web narcotics case after eight distribution cells were found in the United States, including one in Columbus. The case, involving $150 million, is believed to be the largest single cryptocurrency financial seizure in DEA history.
According to an indictment, 40-year-old Banmeet Singh "established a transnational criminal organization responsible for distributing bulk quantities of various scheduled controlled substances throughout Europe and the United States" between 2012 and 2017.
According to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Kenneth Parker, Singh operated a drug trafficking organization that transported large amounts of MDMA, ecstasy, ketamine, LSD, cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and other narcotics.
Orville Green, a special agent with the DEA, said that Singh was indicted in the Southern District of Ohio in October 2018 and arrested at his residence in Coventry, England in April 2019.
He pleaded guilty on Friday to conspiracy to distribute narcotics and conspiracy to commit money laundering as part of a plea deal.
Singh not only faces imprisonment but also must forfeit more than $150 million in cryptocurrency and will be deported to India, his country of origin, following his sentence. According to Parker, as part of his plea deal, he could face up to 96 months in prison.
Singh first started on the “clear web,” but in an attempt to avoid detection, he moved to the dark web, Parker said in a news conference. He would change his drug trafficking handlers anytime he believed someone was on to his operations.
Co-conspirators would buy narcotics from him using cryptocurrency or bitcoin.
“No amount of planning or attempts to conceal illegal activities would render them beyond the discovery of law enforcement through good investigatory work,” Parker said.
To date, seven co-conspirators have been arrested. Two were convicted in the district court for the Southern District of Ohio, and five are looking at whether they will plead guilty to drug trafficking charges in New York, Maryland, North Carolina and North Dakota.
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