Northampton drug supplier who set up Bitcoin-funded Fentanyl marketplace on the dark web jailed

A Northampton man who ran a dark web business selling the lethal opioids to customers across the UK and worldwide has been jailed for nine years.

Justas Bieksa, from Tresham Green, Duston, created an online marketplace where he sold the lethal painkillers by the gram and where customers paid for their orders in untraceable Bitcoin.

His website, "UKChemSale", sold painkillers like crystals of fentanyl and ethyl-hexedrone while offering his illicit customers next day delivery.

The UKchemSale site sold fentanyl to at least 52 customers, with reviews including: "NDD [Next Day Delivery], excellent packaging, 5th successful order, this batch of fent HCL is as good as last thank-you, I've been taking fent for about a year and the quality is up there will the best and these days hard to come by, this is now the only decent fent HCL vendor in UK".

At his sentencing at Birmingham Crown Court yesterday (January 28), evidence showed how Bieska calmly shipping packages of the lethal painkillers at his local post office.

Fentanyl is up to 100 times stronger than morphine - but Bieska's other products, like carfentanyl and furanyl, can be around 10,000 times stronger. He also sold ethyl-hexedrone crystals, a Class B drug commonly known as Hexen.

NCA Senior Investigating Officer Jim Cook said: “Fentanyl and its analogues, which Bieksa was selling, are extremely dangerous. Even a tiny amount could kill a user.

“Not only is fentanyl potentially lethal for those taking it, these drugs pose a serious danger to all those that come into contact with them – be that first responders like law enforcement and medical staff, or in this case postal staff.

“While fentanyl and analogues remain a threat due to their potency, law enforcement action has had a significant impact on UK-based suppliers like Bieksa.”

NCA officers started their investigation into Bieksa after he joined a dark web forum in July 2017. Bieksa was arrested at his home on the morning of September 14, 2019. Officers seized two laptops, one of which was encrypted, plus drug testing kits, electronic scales, envelopes and packaging.

He later pleaded guilty to supplying and importing class A and B drugs.

Forensic analysis of Bieksa’s laptop found a history of orders for synthetic drugs from China for onward supply to others.

Jim Cook added: “Bieksa knew these drugs were life-threatening yet he continued to import and sell them, using any means he could, for his own financial gain.

“The jail time handed to him today is a reflection on his dangerous and calculated actions.

“The NCA continues to work with law enforcement partners, using all the tools at our collective disposal to tackle this worldwide threat.”