UK - Is your postman delivering drugs?

[edgarshade]

BBC By Jim Connolly and Anna Doble
Newsbeat reporters

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/38223838/is-your-postman-delivering-drugs

Large amounts of illegal drugs are being delivered unknowingly by UK postal workers with few checks, Radio 1 Newsbeat has found. For several months we have been investigating drugs in the post bought on the dark web. We heard that "millions of pounds of drugs are bought online every day" via the hidden layer of the internet where dealers can sell drugs anonymously. Royal Mail said it does not knowingly carry any illegal items in its network. Newsbeat spoke to delivery staff who said they had "definitely handled suspect packages" but there was "nothing they could do".

How we tested the system

Newsbeat obtained MDMA, cannabis and former legal high, Spice using Bitcoin on the "dark web", a collection of thousands of websites that use anonymity tools to hide their IP address. This part of the internet also contains a marketplace for drugs like heroin and steroids - as well as weapons and fraudulent documents. We accessed the dark web via the Tor browser, free software which conceals users' identities and their online activity from surveillance. Deliveries to a PO Box took around a week to arrive. When they did, we gave them to a government-approved lab for testing and destruction.

What post workers told us
We went out with a postman who wanted to remain anonymous. "Patrick" told us that it's illegal for him to open suspect parcels and there's "nothing he can do about it. You tell the managers and all they say is you need to deliver it." He added: "If it's got a stamp on it, you post it. We don't have drug dogs to smell every parcel. We don't have the resources to X-ray every parcel. We just have to deliver it and take the risk. Our job is to deliver it safely to the customer."

Newsbeat has been told that some random spot-checks do occur but most staff we spoke to had never seen a sniffer dog.

"I've spent 14 years as a postman in uniform and I have never seen a drug dog," one worker at a London depot said. Another said: "You hear rattling of things like pills and assume they're legitimate, but how would we know?" "I've definitely handled suspect post, but once we have it in our mail bag we have to deliver it," said another.

Are any countries tackling drugs in the post?

In New Zealand more has been done to stop drugs in the post. "New Zealand is an anomaly in that only 2% of those who took our survey said they'd bought drugs on the dark net," says Dr Winstock. The reason people don't go shopping on the dark net in New Zealand is because there's really good co-operation between the police and the postal services and their borders are unbelievably good."
This more joined up approach has led to New Zealand's customs service seizing three times as many suspect packages over the past two years.

 

[PlayHard]

who'd have thought it eh? not in a million year's? 8( 8)

 

[edgarshade]

This may be the start of a campaign against the mail service. The media, especially the BBC, seems to work hand in hand with government objectives. In this case eroding privacy using the war on drugs as a vehicle. Having finished with the "Dark Web". Expect to see (1) an increase in sniffer dogs, X-ray machines and tampered mail, then (2) when that just increases stealth they will abolish anonymous posting. To post a letter, instead of buying a stamp, people will have to purchase a tracking number online to write on the letter, making the whole thing traceable from end-to-end. Mail entering from other countries will also be required to be traceable.

 

[poledriver]

^ Yeah, I wouldn't doubt it.

 

[TheRapperGoneBad]

Somebody should arrest this writer for buying drugs illegally online...
Scary thoughts the post two above mine.

 

[steewith2ees]

This was brought up in EADD a week or so ago. One of our regular posters had this to say...

The RM is sacrosanct, its one of the few good things about having a sovereign (pun intended). It cannot be fucked with or else the whole system of mail delivery collapses.

TOR = invented by the US Navy. Convenient. You don't even need paper trails, just laziness. See SR1 founder.

The RM will not be brought down by Radio 1 Newsbeat.

BC (and Tor) will be brought down by the US govt whenever they feel the time is right.

 

[PredatorVision]

I could hardly watch this, I just wanted to say "Dear BBC kindly FUCK OFF".

On another note, two people went to court for ordering ecstacy pills from the netherlands (which got caught in a Coventry Royal Mail office apparently) and were spared jail claiming most of the pills were for a third person who wasn't questioned.

I must remember to only buy things internally! here's the article about it:

http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/news/150...d_jail_because_police_missed_the_main_player/

I don't think it takes much guesses as to who the third person is if you're involved in drugs at all in the York area. Getting other people to order drugs to their homes (most likely to cover drug debts) at their risk to cover yourself is a pretty dirty business, it's a good thing the court realised the two on trial weren't to blame. But even if they were I'd call it a victimless crime.

 

[Crankinit]

Are any countries tackling drugs in the post?

In New Zealand more has been done to stop drugs in the post. "New Zealand is an anomaly in that only 2% of those who took our survey said they'd bought drugs on the dark net," says Dr Winstock. The reason people don't go shopping on the dark net in New Zealand is because there's really good co-operation between the police and the postal services and their borders are unbelievably good."
This more joined up approach has led to New Zealand's customs service seizing three times as many suspect packages over the past two years.

Or possibly because it's a tiny island nation with a small population...