Christopher D. Bania, a 26-year-old resident of Hobart, Wisconsin, was issued a federal indictment earlier this month for drug trafficking and money laundering.
According to the indictment, Bania allegedly sold a variety of narcotics on several top darknet markets including Dream Market, Wall Street Market, Hansa and AlphaBay.
Bania was arrested last month after being on detectives' radar since 2016.
He is now facing charges related to possession and distribution of controlled substances, illegal importation of controlled substances and money laundering.
The Investigation Trail
Investigations into the case were a joint operation between U.S. Customs and Border Patrol, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Postal Inspection Service, the Wisconsin Department of Justice's Criminal Investigation Division, the Brown County Drug Task Force and the Hobart/Lawrence and Oneida police departments.
According to a news release from the Department of Justice, Bania allegedly imported and sold drugs such as MDMA, DMT, cocaine, ketamine, methamphetamine, MDA, heroin, crack, marijuana and other controlled substances.
Authorities say he operated on Dream Market, AlphaBay, Hansa, Wall Street Market, Zion and TradeRoute.
The investigations were focused more on the Bania's trail of bringing the drugs into the U.S. and distributing them through the Postal Service.
Law enforcement agents were able to intercept packages of drugs over the years and trace them back to Bania.
If convicted of his charges, Bania is facing federal prison time of up to 80 years and a fine of $4 million. He is currently being held in the Brown County Jail, located in Green Bay.
Former Darknet Vendors Facing More Arrests
Bania's case illustrates the complexity of investigations into drug trafficking on the dark web.
It has taken detectives years to finally gather enough evidence to be able to arrest Bania and secure an indictment.
Law enforcement agencies themselves admit that they have to use unorthodox investigation methods when dealing with illegal activity on the dark web.
As mentioned earlier, Bania allegedly operated on several darknet markets in the past-most of which are no longer in service.
TradeRoute went down in October 2017 after a suspected exit scam by its admins. Zion Market has been offline for some time.
AlphaBay, one of the largest drug marketplaces to ever exist on the dark web, was seized by authorities in July 2017. Shortly thereafter, Hansa Market was also shut down by Dutch law enforcement.
Still, almost two years later, law enforcement agencies are still arresting former vendors from AlphaBay and Hansa.
This case only marks the latest addition to a long list of darknet dealers who've been arrested and charged for operating on these now-defunct markets.