New Delhi (IANS) | In recent years, the dark web has become a hub for illegal activities such as drug trafficking, cybercrime, and human trafficking. Reports suggest that Delhi is emerging as a hotspot for dark web syndicates
According to sources, many criminal groups in Delhi are using dark web to carry out their illegal activities. These groups are using cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin to conduct anonymous transactions, making it difficult for law enforcement agencies to track them down.
Some of the most common illegal activities carried out by these syndicates include drug trafficking, arms smuggling and money laundering.
The dark web is also being used to sell stolen data including credit card details and personal information.
To counter this growing trend, the Delhi Police has constituted a special team of cyber cell to monitor the activities of the dark web syndicate, said a senior police officer. The team is working with other law enforcement agencies to track down and apprehend those involved in these illegal activities.
He said, in recent months, the police have also conducted several successful operations against the dark web syndicate. In one operation, they were able to arrest a group of persons who were involved in selling drugs on the dark web. The police seized a large amount. A huge quantity of narcotics and other illegal items were recovered during the raid.
In September last year, the Delhi Police arrested seven people, including an IIM dropout, a BBA student and a fashion designer, for sourcing chemical drugs such as LSD, MDMA and marijuana from abroad to be supplied to the college through courier services. Can go
The arrests were made following a tip-off by police leading to the recovery of 28 blotting papers of LSD, 12.6 grams of MDMA, 84 grams of curated marijuana and 220 grams of hashish.
Not only this, the dark web is also used by gangs and syndicates to send drugs including hashish, opium, charas, opium containing Ayurvedic pills like Kamini Vidravana Ras and Barsasa to western countries.
Explaining the modus operandi, a senior police officer said that these dark web syndicates use ‘TOR’.
“Transactions are usually done through cryptocurrencies after contacting the dealers through VPN (virtual private network),” the official said.
A darknet user told IANS that these days the ‘onion domain’ on Tor which does not register users like others is being used for drug trading.
He said, while entering the URL of Onion, a hash key is generated to host its website. Then the URL of the relevant website is entered and a network is established between the buyer and the seller. Even on some search engines on the dark web, blogs, websites and URLs of websites are shared through WhatsApp groups, Telegram, etc.
The syndicate lures customers with ads that resemble a restaurant menu and shows them on Instagram, Telegram, Skype for conversation.
The rise of dark web syndicate in Delhi remains a major concern. The anonymity of the dark web makes it difficult for law enforcement agencies to track down those involved in illegal activities, and the use of cryptocurrencies makes it even more difficult to trace transactions.
–IANS
