A Romanian who was a member of a darknet drug trafficking organization was sentenced to three years in prison in the United States, the Romanian Police announced.

He was caught by the Romanian Police and extradited to the US authorities following an extensive joint operation with the Belgian Police, the Homeland Security Investigations and the Drug Enforcement Administration of the United States, with the support of Europol and Eurojust.

A US District Court ruled the sentence on April 11 this year.

The Romanian sentenced to jail and the leader of the organization, who is also a Romanian, were found and arrested in Romania on May 3, 2016, by the anti-drug police officers. 17 other arrests were also made in Belgium in the same case.

The investigation found that the group delivered over 500 kilograms of MDMA and ecstasy pills to the US, Finland and Sweden using Silk Road, a type of overlapping network that was part of the global internet network (darknet). The organization accepted payment for the drugs in bitcoin.

The leader of the organization risks to stay 20 years behind bars.

Irina Marica, irina.marica@romania-insider.com