A South Korean man has been given multiple sentences after a court found him guilty of using and buying drugs online bitcoin (btc),
news1 reported that the man, aged 43 but undisclosed for legal reasons, was indicted by a branch of Chuncheon District Court Criminal on charges of violating drug management laws.
The court heard that the man had bought methamphetamine (also known as crystal meth) on a total of eight occasions from 13 August 2020 to April this year. In each case, the man paid the dealers in bitcoin.
Presiding Judge Song Jong-seon sentenced the man to a 10-month suspended prison sentence in addition to three years’ probation. The man was also ordered to attend a 40-hour drug treatment course and pay a fine of approximately $2,190.
South Korea crackdown on BTC-powered drug trading
South Korea has some of the strictest narcotics laws in the world. but – until recently The police found themselves duped by tech-savvy drug dealers. Using Darkweb PortalsBuyers are able to find the contact details of the sellers.
Then, using the Telegram messaging app, they set up payments – all conducted in BTC and altcoins. This is followed by “dead-drop” delivery, whereby dealers go to public places and leave bags of narcotics in hidden nooks and crannies.
Police officers have since spent money on crypto monitoring tools, which they believe has helped them secure many convictions.
In the case of a 43-year-old man, the court heard how, on one occasion this year, he contacted a drug dealer via Telegram before paying BTC 0.0143 into a digital wallet.
The next day, he followed directions that led him to find a bag of methamphetamine “hidden above the entrance of a building in Seoul”.
Earlier this year, police arrested over 200 people suspected of trading drugs including ketamine, cannabis and MDMA (ecstasy) using the Telegram app and bitcoin wallets.
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