Free drugs - by mail order from online retailers

Drug sachets from the online trade
Free drugs - by mail order from online retailers
The State Office of Criminal Investigation NRW warns against mail with an unknown sender.
The purchase of narcotics (BtM) by post is becoming increasingly interesting for sellers and consumers. Quickly and inconspicuously purchased anonymously online and delivered by reputable parcel carriers, the postal service makes it easy for drug dealers to sell narcotics to consumers.

Drug-related crime in North Rhine-Westphalia has increased continuously over the last 10 years. In 2019, the highest level of the last 20 years was reached with 69,147 offenses.
State Office of Criminal Investigation NRW

Narcotics crime includes all drug-related offenses under the Narcotics Act (BtMG), the New Psychoactive Substances Act and the German Criminal Code (StGB) if they were committed to directly obtain narcotics, i.e. theft or robbery of narcotics.

While around 30 percent of cases fall under the offense of supplying the market (trafficking, smuggling, import, cultivation, production, violation of the New Psychoactive Substances Act), 70 percent are attributable to consumption offenses.

Available worldwide via the Internet

One of the main reasons for the increase in the number of cases is that narcotics are available worldwide via the internet. The trade in narcotics on the Internet is becoming an increasingly large area of drug-related crime.

The simple, fast and anonymous nature of the sale extends not only to narcotics, but also to other prohibited goods, such as weapons, false documents or child pornography.

Sales via marketplaces or own online stores

Sellers of narcotics on the internet, also known as vendors, offer their products via marketplaces or their own online stores. The large number of marketplaces and stores guarantees a consistently wide range of products. Narcotics are usually shipped via postal service providers using conventional letters or parcels. It is therefore the visible consequence of the increasing online trade in narcotics.

 

This is how the seller disguises the purchase with a randomly selected sender address

In order to conceal their identity, the perpetrators use sender addresses of seemingly randomly selected companies or private individuals.

Neutral packaging gives the mail item an inconspicuous appearance that does not allow any conclusions to be drawn about the dangerous contents. Only the sender and the recipient are aware of the potential danger of the substances contained in these mail items.

All persons involved in sending mail are exposed to permanent risks to life and health by handling substances, some of which are highly toxic, in an unsuspected and unprotected manner.
These mail items cannot always be delivered. They are returned to the sender. This means that any person or company whose address has been misused as the sender can inadvertently become the recipient of a return shipment containing narcotics.

Recommendations for action


- Do not open unknown mail items that are returned to the post office.
- Inform the police instead
- Parents should also keep a close eye on what mail items are sent to their children. The sale of drugs on the Internet means that they can be sold at the click of a mouse and sent by post "to every child's room", so to speak.

Further information


- Police Crime Prevention Program of the Federal States and the Federal Government (ProPK), www.polizeifürdich, website for children and young people on the subject of legal and illegal drugs
- Website of the Federal Centre for Health Education, www.drugcom.de on the subject of drugs and addiction

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In urgent cases: Police emergency number 110