There are now more than 43,000 listings for drugs on the hidden internet… Any sort of recent grumblings from the press about the hazards of the dark net seem to have not quite worked on impressionable minds/people who want to buy drugs online, because it's got more than twice as many drugs listings as it did in October.
In the past nine months, its listings have shot up from 18,000 to 43,000 and there are now 23 marketplaces, up from four.
Just in case you didn't know about the dark net, users get to it by going through a different sort of online browser called Tor, which strips your ID from your internet connection by running the software through loads of other computers. Which means if you were to do something illegal through it, the police would have a tricky time of catching you. You also have to pay for things using an untraceable internet currency, the Bitcoin. All of these stupid words and pseudo heists probably give you something to giggle at while you're nailed, we suppose.
Last year, the Tor's biggest drugs marketplace, Silk Road, was shut down in an operation by the FBI. But the National Crime Agency says that this has caused 'displacement' where organised criminals set up alternative places to buy drugs.
One drug dealer told the BBC, reports* The Times*: '“I’ve seen the dark net market grow almost exponentially. A street dealer could sell you anything without you knowing what it is. Because of the strong community on the dark net, this almost never happens. And when it happens, the vendor in question will lose all of his clients. To us the dark net is all about anonymity and freedom.'
However, the idea of safety when it comes to drugs and dealing them isn't just about the user's safety from getting caught - they're still buying into a supply chain that hurts people, says Caroline Young, the deputy director of the NCA's Organised Crime Command: 'It’s a big problem. In our threat assessment we have cocaine and heroin as a high priority, and because it’s cyber-enabled that makes it even more of a high priority.
'We will use all and every tool and technique we possibly can. Whether they are dealers and buyers online or on the street, they are exactly the same. They are dealing in illegal drugs and they are dealing in misery.'
And it's not only drugs for sale on the dark web - people have ordered guns, fake passports and all sorts of illegal items from the site. Yeesh, sounds a bit more trouble than it's worth.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.