Banmeet, Singh a 40-year-old Indian national in America, has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for distributing controlled substances on the dark web. Singh had pleaded guilty to the charges of money laundering and possession of drugs with the intent to distribute in January this year. Not only this, the court ordered around $150 million (approx. Rs 1.25 thousand crore) to be seized from him.
A resident of Haldwani, Singh was arrested in April 2019 from London, following which he was extradited to America in March 2023. He reportedly used to sell drugs like fentanyl, LSD, ecstasy, Xanax, ketamine and tramadol through various vendor sites on the dark web. Customers purchasing the drugs paid him through cryptocurrency.
Banmeet himself took charge of the shipping of drugs. He used to deliver drugs from Europe to America through US mail or other services. Between 2012 and July 2017, Banmeet had 8 centers for selling drugs in America, which were reportedly in Ohio, Florida, Maryland, New York and Washington.
Banmeet used to sell drugs in America, Canada, Britain. The employees at the distribution centres used to take the shipment of drugs and re-pack and re-distribute the drugs to all 50 states of US, along with countries like Canada, England, Ireland and Jamaica.
Gradually Banmeet's business started to gain traction as he started selling hundreds of kilos of drugs across the US. Through this, Banmeet created a multi-million dollar drug business. Along with this, he reportedly used to launder the drug earnings with the help of cryptocurrency accounts. According to the US Justice Department, Banmeet earned about $150 million through his drug empire.