Cornwall dealers used Bitcoin to buy cocaine and cannabis on the dark web

A drug-trafficking duo who bought cocaine and cannabis on the dark web to sell on the streets of West Cornwall have been jailed.

Jason Pierce, 56, and Callum Payne, 28, both from Porthleven in Cornwall, were sent to prison for a combined total of 10 years.

Pierce bought the illegal drugs online using cryptocurrency and imported them from abroad, while Payne collected the packages and sold them on.

The offenders denied conspiracy to supply cocaine and cannabis but were found guilty by a jury following a trial at Truro Crown Court. 

In a hearing at Plymouth Crown Court on Friday 15 September, Pierce was sentenced to six years and eight months in prison while Payne was jailed for three years and four months.

The court heard how the drugs were purchased from the Netherlands on the dark web using Bitcoin, and then sent to various locations in West Cornwall where they were distributed.

The drugs trafficking operation was uncovered when officers found more than £5000 worth of cannabis in a car being driven by Payne, following a short police pursuit in January 2018.

Experts had to crack sophisticated privacy software on the defendants’ computers to unlock files containing evidence of their criminal operations.

Detector Inspector Steven Moorcroft, of Devon and Cornwall Police’s Serious and Organised Crime Branch, said: “This investigation started in 2018, following a pursuit in Porthleven ending with Callum Payne running from a vehicle which contained a large quantity of cannabis which had been imported from the Netherlands via the dark web.

“Devon and Cornwall Police would like to stress that such serious drug trafficking offences will be investigated to safeguard the public from drug supply using the internet and mail services.”