An Irish man has been given a suspended prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to purchasing marijuana on the dark web to sell on the streets. The Irish man also admitted to laundering €26,000.
Kilkenny City, ireland, resident Ronan Whelan was sentenced during a sentencing hearing at the Kilkenny Circuit Court. During the court hearing, the court was told that the Whelan purchased drugs on dark web markets to resell them. He resold the drugs and laundered the proceeds.
The Sergent who led the investigation against the Whelan, provided the most of the information about the case during the sentencing hearing. The sergeant told the court that on May 30, 2019, the Gardaí had executed a search warrant at Whelan’s residence. The officers who executed the search found and seized €1,605 during the search. Also seized were weighing scales and packaging materials.
The Gardai arrested the defendant and detained him on suspicion of money laundering. While he was being questioned, the defendant told investigators that he had earned the money they found through reselling dark web drugs.
When the investigation was going on, customs officers intercepted a suspicious package that was addressed to the irish-man. The package was seized and investigators found cannabis worth at least €2,540 hidden inside of it. The defendant disclosed that he had purchased the drugs on the dark web and that he received the drug package every 10 days.
The Sergent acquired a search warrant for Whelan’s bank accounts in June 2019. The search warrant revealed the defendant’s account had received payments that amounted to a total of €9,598 in 2018 and €18,430 in 2019.
The Sergent established that the defendant’s only source of “income” was social welfare. When the irish-man was questioned about the deposits made to his accounts, he told the investigators that they were the proceeds of his drug trafficking operation. He said that he had claimed they were wages to hide their source.
Whelan pleaded guilty to three counts of money laundering and one count of attempting to possess cannabis with the intent to supply.
After the judge heard that the defendant was cooperative during the investigation and that he was truly “remorseful and ashamed,” Judge Patrick Meghan said that “the sophistication of the operation” could not be ignored. The judge sentenced the defendant to three years in prison suspended for five years. The defendant has to enters a bond and be of good behavior.