KOCHI: The Muvattupuzha native who ran the darknet-based drug racket Ketamelon used Monero (XMR), a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that is now popular for illegal activities, the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has found.
The central agency’s investigation into the operations of 35-year-old Edison, an engineer by profession, revealed that he managed the drug network single-handedly and shipped over 600 consignments of LSD blots and ketamine clandestinely across India.
Edison used Monero, commonly known as XMR, to procure LSD and ketamine from abroad and also to sell it, the NCB probe revealed. “Monero is an untraceable cryptocurrency widely used by terrorist outfits and international drug syndicates for moving money. Unlike Bitcoin, it leaves no transaction trail, making it extremely difficult to track. Edison was using Monero to source drugs from the UK and sell them to people who placed orders on the darknet,” a source told TNIE.
On Wednesday, the value of Monero stood at Rs 27,177. A cryptocurrency expert who wished to remain anonymous said Monero is traded under the symbol XMR. Although people can buy and sell Monero in India, it is preferred by criminals due to its confidential nature. Monero is used worldwide for illicit activities such as money laundering, darknet markets, ransomware, cryptojacking, and other organised crimes.
“In common cryptocurrencies, the wallet address is public and transactions can be traced on the blockchain. Monero is fundamentally different because it is privacy-focused by design.
In Monero, every transaction generates a one-time stealth address for the recipient, which functions like a fake IP address, making it nearly impossible to link transactions to a specific wallet address,” the cryptocurrency expert said.
As each transaction is mixed with several other decoy transactions (called ring members), it becomes unclear which one is real. “This hides the sender’s identity. Monero has adopted the Ring Confidential Transaction system, by which only the sender and receiver know the value of the amount transacted,” he said.
The NCB has seized around 1,127 LSD blots – 280 that arrived at a parcel office in Kochi and 847 from Edison’s residence. In addition, NCB officials also recovered 131.66 grams of ketamine from the possession of the accused. It was also found that he was holding cryptocurrency worth around Rs 70 lakh, generated as proceeds of crime. Edison used to procure over 10,000 LSD stamps in a single order from a UK-based vendor, Gunga Din, the NCB said.
Edison studied mechanical engineering and was employed with various companies as an engineer in Pune and Bengaluru. It has also been found that he worked abroad as part of an on-site programme. While he took to the dark web to order drugs for himself, Edison started peddling drugs on a small scale using the network six years back. He later quit his job and began full-time drug peddling, operating from his residence. Even his wife and parents were unaware of his illegal work.
“Edison placed orders for large quantities of LSD on the darknet. He used fake addresses and SIM cards to evade arrest in case the parcel containing drugs was detected by enforcement agencies. Later, when it arrived, he directly approached the courier office and received the parcel. Similarly, fake IDs and SIM cards sourced from the darknet were used to send drugs to people who placed orders from him on the darknet,” an officer said.
The NCB has approached the Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court, seeking Edison’s custody. The court will consider the petition on Thursday.
No transaction trail
Edison used Monero, commonly known as XMR, to procure LSD and ketamine from abroad and to sell them
Unlike Bitcoin, it leaves no transaction trail, making it extremely difficult to track
Monero is privacy-focused by design and is used for money laundering, darknet markets & ransomware