Russia's Dead Drop Drug Revolution

https://globalinitiative.net/analysis/russia-drug-trade-organized-crime/

by nkko • 2 years ago

57 33 2 years ago

globalinitiative.net

K0balt• 2 years ago

Finally, the killer app for AR technology.

cluckindan• 2 years ago

More likely they will just hijack some existing AR game and use its geocoding system to mark the drops.

eps2• 2 years ago

This was very light on information.

Severian• 2 years ago

You need to read the PDF, there is a ton of information in the report, with 214 references to the sources cited.

eps2• 2 years ago

Whoops, you are correct. Thanks.

iszomer• 2 years ago

Geocaching is going to take a hit if it hasn't already..

0_____03• 2 years ago

Why would it take a hit, and how?

DrillShopper• 2 years ago

If I found some free drugs I'd be tempted to take a hit or two

reisse2• 2 years ago

In cops eyes, it's hard to distinguish between geocacher and kladman (the one doing dead drops). You'll spend some time explaining why you were putting something in the strange place on the street...

gorjusborg• 2 years ago

I don't know, there are some people who would probably pick up the habit with these higher rewards :)

dkenyser• 2 years ago

People have been using Crypto to buy drugs since its earliest days, people have been using the darknet to sell and distribute drugs since its earliest days, and people have been using dead drops to transfer drugs and other illegal goods since the dawn of organized crime.

None of this is new, or unique to Russia.

Isamu• 2 years ago

Good point. To be fair they are reporting on the new dominance of this model in Russia, rather than claiming this is the first time anyone has seen this. “Driven by large platforms such as Kraken, Mega, and Blacksprut, Russian darknet markets control 93% of the global share, generating approximately $1.5 billion in revenue in 2023 alone. This dominance marks a new era for organized crime, with Russia’s digital drug economy vastly surpassing traditional Western darknet markets in scope and influence.”

dantyti2• 2 years ago

from tfa: > Russian darknet markets control 93% of the global share, generating approximately $1.5 billion in revenue in 2023 alone

does seem very relevant to expose Russia's outsized influence.

HelloNurse• 2 years ago

The purposes of such an alarm can include general fearmongering, excuses for eavesdropping, excuses for curfews and searches, excuses for face recognition in public spaces, excuses for cryptocurrency restrictions, supporting requests for increasing law enforcement budgets because of the war on drugs, and so on.

Actual news are optional, although in this case both a rise of high tech methods in retail drug trading over time and widespread usage in Russia seem likely.

flotzam2• 2 years ago

The thing that's new is making all of these puzzle pieces come together, at scale

Johanx64• 2 years ago

None of this is new, or unique to Russia.

Russia has extreme levels of alcoholism and drug abuse. A lot of it is quite unique to Russia, country that brought you Krokodil and things messed up beyond your wildest imagination.

People in the west really have no slightest clue.

mikrl• 2 years ago

Yet the narrative is

- the West has all of these much worse

- Russia is upstanding and moral

- if these exist in Russia, it’s because of western influence

Which conveniently removes the responsibility from Russian authorities and emboldens western jackasses who see Russia as some kind of beacon for… something.

reisse2• 2 years ago

Russia has extreme levels of alcoholism and drug abuse.

Russia _had_ extreme levels of alcoholism in the 1990s and in the beginning of 2000s. Since then, their anti-alcohol campaign was very effective. Instead of outright banning alcohol (which was tried in the 1980s and led to a bootlegging boom), they taxed the hell out of strong liquors, prohibited advertising them, prohibited nighttime sale of alcoholic drinks including beer, prohibited everything except beer on sports events, and executed other measures to make alcoholic beverages _uncomfortable_ to obtain.

As a result, alcohol consumption per capita decreased nearly twofold. Now average Russian drinks less than average American [1].

1. https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/field/alcohol-consump...

JKCalhoun• 2 years ago

Is this sustainable? I feel like dead drops are not re-useable. Certainly not compromised ones — and I would imagine sting operations by the DEA would begin to compromise a significant share of them.

0_____03• 2 years ago

Uh, outside is really big, and there's lots of stuff in it that nobody pays attention to. Especially something as small as a packet of drugs is something you could honestly just staple to the bottom of a pole under a leaf you found nearby and nobody would notice.

Fluorescence2• 2 years ago

I saw a guy in my city checking every nook and cranny he passed and he looked well practised in the likely spots. Quite interesting to see him at work and the places that got extra attention: the most keen search was around the frame of a sign, the second rank were the larger crevices in brickwork and around utility pipework.

I assumed he was looking for other addicts stashes e.g. maybe they stash what they're holding when they beg to avoid losing it to police searches? Maybe it was dead drops but it seemed like a street thing rather than a darknet thing but what do I know...

I don't know if he was successful or just nuts but given I've found full baggies just laying on the pavement, maybe it's not so hard.

diego_moita• 2 years ago

This confluence of organized crime, dark web and cryptocurrencies is happening everywhere, not only Russia:

https://www.economist.com/international/2024/11/26/the-world...

dantyti2• 2 years ago

from tfa:

Russian darknet markets control 93% of the global share, generating approximately $1.5 billion in revenue in 2023 alone

flotzam2• 2 years ago

There's a link in the report to an instruction manual for couriers, the "Kladman's Bible": https://www.pdf-archive.com/2017/11/19/kladmen2-1/kladmen2-1...

I don't speak Russian, but the photos look interesting. Does anyone have an English translation?

tdiff• 2 years ago

I've skimmed through it and it is quite disgusting. It is written in a manner to convince future kladman that "everything gonna be alright if you do it right".

In fact, kladmen are disposable, are easy targets for cops, and get huge sentences.

specproc• 2 years ago

I have a cite in the source report, and it's sad to see the top comments here being off-hand dismissals.

A few things that really stood out from the study:

- This is now the primary way drugs are bought and sold in Russia. Crypto and darknet markets have always been a bit niche in the West, but it's really taken off here. No definitive answer as to why, but high-risk, low-trust, poor-post is a decent hypothesis.

- The markets are massive business, which do publicity stunts (e.g., dumping a bus with their logo in the middle of central Moscow)[1] and digital marketing, check out "moriati" on YouTube.[1]

- There are two basic jobs in the lower ranks: kladmen and cooks. Both often involve taking out debt and getting the shit kicked out of you when you don't pay (not so different here, I guess). This is particularly interesting, because darknet markets had been previously seen as safer means of exchange as in-person contact is reduced.

- Different categories of drugs are thriving in the context of broken supply chains stemming from conflict between Russia and the West. Forget krokodil, this is an Alpha PVP and Mephodrone scene, as they've got precursors that are readily available in Russia.

Loads in this report. I read a lot of shit, lazy work on Russia and this is the good stuff. Well worth a read.

[0] https://www.vice.com/en/article/russia-darknet-market-wars/

[1] https://www.youtube.com/@moriartymega

Russia's Dead Drop Drug Revolution

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