Dark Web Drugs – The feds say they caught two people running a web drug ring in the Albuquerque area. They say the duo was selling the drugs online and shipping them in the mail.
The dark web is a place where users go by fake names and explore a tangled web of illegal activity. In this case, when everything was unraveled, it led to Rio Rancho.
Last year, the DEA uncovered a drug dealer on the dark web who went by the name “The Queens Hive.” Investigators believe the dealers were getting paid through bitcoin and were operating out of a unit at an apartment complex on Unser Boulevard.
Investigators say an ad in an online marketplace on the dark web referred to the products “the queen’s honey.” They sold everything from meth, LSD, and oxycodone, even offering money-laundering services.
Investigators caught 26-year-old Gilberto Melgarejo and 22-year-old Brooke Gray on camera at a Speedway on Paradise Boulevard and at another on Unser, dropping off packages at USPS counters. The feds began purchasing their products and sent them bitcoin in return.
“I don’t care where you go, you’re gonna find something like that,” said C.J. Daniels, who lives at the apartment complex.
People who live at the complex say they had no idea this was going on at the apartments.
“I’m glad that they got caught because there’s a lot of kids here, and I wouldn’t want any of them to get into that stuff and get hurt,” said Matthew Martinez.
According to a criminal complaint, the two suspects would exchange the bitcoin for money through a PayPal account.