Udupi, Sep 29 (IANS): The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) on Tuesday arrested four persons in connection with their alleged involvement in procuring MDMA tablets through the 'dark net' and selling them to the student community in Udupi.

Udupi, one of the fastest growing cities in Karnataka, is 422 kms away from Bengaluru.

According to the NCB press note, the arrested persons were identified as K. Pramodh - a consignee, Fahim - a mastermind and their associates A. Hashir and S.S. Shetty.

The NCB claimed that alleged mastermind Fahim learnt the concept of purchasing drugs online (dark net) through a web series. "He started purchasing bitcoins and through bitcoins ordered drugs from the dark net. Fahim used to deliver consignments at various addresses in India and thereafter collect from there. He further sold the drugs to students of various colleges in Udupi," the NCB claimed.

The NCB further added that Fahim had mastered the art of procuring drugs through the dark web from the Netherlands.

"Their consignment was seized in July 2020, but due to lack of consignee address, the NCB had to gather technical data to nab this syndicate," the note read.

The NCB had recovered an envelope containing 750 MDMA tablets, and was ordered through the dark net from foreign post office.

"Contraband was imported through a courier parcel from the Netherlands and payment was through bitcoins," the note stated.

The note further elaborated that the detailed investigation in the case with the help of digital analysis led NCB team to the arrest of all the syndicate members including the consignee K. Pramodh, mastermind Fahim and their associates A. Hashir and S.S. Shetty.

NCB added that further investigations of the forward linkages is underway.