Cracking darknet

Kochi: A casual conversation with a 20-something degree student a few weeks ago was kind of a password to enter the darknet, the menacing world of drug consumption and peddling amongst the youths in the state. The economics student from a northern Kerala district provided a graphic, and chilling, description of how darknet, the underworld of Internet, emerged as a safe space for sourcing a variety of drugs ranging from LSD stamps to cocaine and MDMA. The way the young man provided the information sounded as if sourcing the drug from the mysterious darknet is the easiest of things to do. Perhaps he was exaggerating a bit but the idea of sourcing intoxicants through darknet is no more in the realm of fantasy. It is real and appears quite threatening.

Although a notable quantity of ganja and organic drugs have been traced and seized in different parts of the state of late, the synthetic drugs that are largely being smuggled and sold among customers in the all new way, using darknet. And hence a larger portion of the cases is going unnoticed.

The student, on condition of anonymity, said anyone who purchases the items through darknet sells it for double the price he had paid the network. Following multiple purchases, he would get acquainted with a few others and later form a group for these activities. The net of darknet grows thus.

"The authorities and the government are not fully aware of the operations of the dark net," the student said. "There is a growth in the number of people using the darknet, especially youths, who are well versed with the techniques of the cyber space."

The police is aware of it, and has successfully traced a few cases in the state, counters Manoj Abraham, additional director-general of police (south zone) and nodal officer of Kerala Police Cyberdome. The first condition of darknet is its anonymity," he told DC. "But there are more.  We cannot classify the centres nor the people. We cannot trace them geographically either, as the darknet market is accessible from anywhere."

Senior police officials say they have traced chemical drugs, mostly LSD, and other illegal deals with Kerala connection in the dark net in the past few months. Though there are no cases registered in the state in connection with this, the police confirms there are people in Kerala using darknet as the safest option for drug peddling, for both buyer and seller. But lack of tools to trace the whereabouts is pulling them and other authorities back.

Police sources said not just drugs but even weapons can be purchased from the darknet websites. "Sandalwoods, temple idols… anything of value in the international market is being dealt over the darknet," the sources said.

"It is being developed as the feeding ground of criminal activities mainly related to drugs thanks to the safety cover it offers. Weapons including Kalashnikovs are on sale. Hence it is crucial to map it round-the-clock and monitor the trends."

Anticipating its rapid growth in the state, the Cyberdome is gearing up to infiltrate the darknet. It has developed darknet crawlers as tools to analyse the information from the sites. It has so far identified almost 45 words that are used as code names for the deals. "When we work on a tool to trace somebody by going deep in the websites, they close down the location and shifts. So mapping them is very difficult. Close monitoring by a thousand hands is necessary. So there is a need to develop more human expertise including multiple language experts to deal with this," the sources said. The group that uses the darknet are one step ahead than the authorities in communication.

The police has traced credit card data with Jharkhand connection in the darknet, Mr Abraham said. "A quantum of credit card details available over the darknet indicates the possibility of databases of banks being hacked into though they may not admit it. The suspects belong to Jharkhand and they are investigating the case. Besides, we have also traced the transactions in which fake Indian passports are used," Mr Abraham said.

The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has so far registered two cases in connection with the darknet outside Kerala - one in Chennai and the other in Coimbatore. LSD stamps and opium were the items seized from the buyers.

A. Bruno, zonal director, NCB, Chennai said the drug dealings through the darknet are seen in small quantity, or for individual uses, especially the chemical drugs such as LSD. No bulk amount has been traced yet. "The websites inside the darknet can be accessed by special browsers like TOR. Many illegal and dangerous items including weapons have been showcased for selling on the website. The technology we are using now can only trace who is using this search engine, but we cannot find out the person's exact location or what is he buying. The IP address keeps changing every second. Research is going on and if we develop a technology soon to identify that, things will be easy in the future," Mr. Bruno said.

He also said the Andhra- Orissa border is the origin of ganja cultivation and hashish oil production, which also can be the rare spots in India sourced by the dealers to do business via darknet.