Police in the US have arrested a man on suspicion of being the major deep web drug dealer 'Supremesmoke'
Fox 59
Lee D. Gray, 40, has been charged with drug trafficking and money laundering. He was arrested following a police raid on his home on Tuesday at 6 a.m.
Supremesmoke is believed to have used the "Agora" and "Black Bank" deep web drug marketplaces to sell heroin and cocaine over the internet. He wasn't a small-time dealer, either. Supremesmoke has been around since the earliest days of the deep web drug trade, even selling drugs on the original incarnation of The Silk Road.
Deep web users have been concerned about Supremesmoke for a while. One Reddit thread from last week pointed out that he hadn't logged into his online accounts and said that "people are getting mad they ordered express and he has not logged in since the weekend."
Supremesmoke had a Reddit account where he responded to concerns about delays shipping drugs. "'I'm good guys. Calm down. I don't live on the PC," he responded to a post asking if he was OK because he had been absent for several days.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Indiana says that Supremesmoke's heroin cost between $100 (£63) and $125 (£79) for 0.5 grams. Shipping was extra, and express shipping cost up to $30 (£19). It also said that drugs were mailed with return addresses that didn't relate to Gray, instead listing the names of unrelated local businesses.
EXCLUSIVE: DEA works to dismantle underground internet drug network using virtual $--accused of distributing heroin pic.twitter.com/WldZliOTah
- Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) August 18, 2015
A Reddit user previously posted a review of heroin purchased from Supremesmoke. He gave the drugs an overall rating of 8.5 out of 10, commenting that he was "the real deal." However, the user also questioned the "stealth" of the packaging used to mail the drugs. The heroin apparently arrived without being vacuum-sealed (vacuum sealing makes it harder for police and sniffer dogs to detect.
BREAKING: Lee Gray arrested this morning on federal charges for his alleged role in a heroin distribution ring pic.twitter.com/c6nVycnhiF
- Charlie De Mar (@CharlieDeMar) August 18, 2015
Some Supremesmoke customers are concerned about what effects the arrest could have on them. Reddit user HeroinNumber 4 said "I'm in the same boat. I ordered from him 3 weeks ago. Think we should be cleaning house?" "Cleaning house" is where a dealer or customer disposes of any evidence relating to buying or selling drugs, including wiping computers and throwing away physical evidence.
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