Drug dealers are becoming online entrepreneurs on Instagram, Snapchat and darknet and PostNord is their runner
Text: Gianluca Grasselli, Nancy Dordokidou, Nicolás Berlinger, Hongyu Zhang, Suzanne Vink
The drug market is like a chameleonic beast, constantly adapting and growing. Now you can have the best quality cocaine, delivered to your home in Gothenburg in no time with perfect customer service.
The war on drugs is a big challenge for society, especially since the drug dealers are adapting their business models and are using modern technologies to sell drugs online. Drug dealers are not always dodgy men in a black hoodie in the corner of Järntorget, they became business masterminds.
The digitalization of the drug market is a massive reality worldwide and Sweden is no exception. With drug dealers becoming proficient online entrepreneurs, the police force is facing new challenges in the war against drugs. A war that has, so far, seen an increase in the illegal market incomes from 4 to 31 million SEK in the last six years.
A great advantage of the online drug market for buyers is that it works in the same way as legal online retailing. Through dozens of reviews online, assessing the quality, purity or shipping times of the product, it’s hard to tell the differences between an illegal online drug market and a giant of e-commerce like Amazon.
“Most drug dealers on the streets, started businesses online too.”
Roberto Tomé, community police of Gothenburg
Selling drugs online is easy and anonymous
All you are asked to purchase drugs online is a smart device and a Wi-Fi connection. Drug dealers, in fact, operate from all sorts of digital platforms: darknet, social media, encrypted apps, and even open websites easily accessible on Google, according to Katharina Tollin, analyst and researcher at Brå – National Council for Crime Prevention. The app Snapchat is one of the most common ones, as reported to us by a former drug dealer, K.* active in Gothenburg and online.
The man, during a long interview outside a bar in Andra långgatan, revealed how, through the system of cryptocurrency, he was able to sell and safely ship cocaine by the front door of the customer. Buyers could reach him by using specific hashtags and emojis. This service granted him a level of anonymity, security, and efficiency that was not comparable to the shady and dangerous street market. Not only Snapchat, but K. also brought to light that “Flugsvamp” is a website used by dealers and heavy users to purchase higher amounts of products. E-commerce allows drug dealers to even expand their selling areas just by shipping nationally with the postal service, reaching villages and cities before not being on the list.
Online market in Gothenburg
Roberto Tomé, local police officer here in Göteborg states that “the drug scene is very strong” especially in some areas of the city with Järntorget at the top. But aside from the street market, he confirms that online retailers are gaining popularity among users. It has become apparent that the police have knowledge of websites like “Flugsvamp”, or social media platforms such as Snapchat used for online drug purchases. Some of the criminals selling on the streets have started dealing online too with the great advantage of anonymity, explained Tomé.
Online market is giving drug dealers protection even through the constitutional law about privacy. “We can’t open any letters”, argued Tomé, “even when it smells like narcotics we can’t just open it. In Swedish law, it’s a big step in someone’s privacy to open letters and it’s almost more difficult to get in a letter, than to get in a home.” A “hypocrisy” he calls it, that needs to be solved by the government.
Wastewater monitoring
For over a decade now, in cities like Gävle and Stockholm, analyses of the wastewater were periodically conducted to monitor the drug situation. But in Gothenburg, with only two studies conducted, one eight years ago and one in 2021, it’s harder to come to long-term results regarding the city’s drug consumption.
Nevertheless, according to the latest measurement, run by the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction, substances such as amphetamines and Tramadol are taking the lead. As confirmed by Tomé and Tollin, pharmaceuticals and opioids are on the rise. The analysis of municipal wastewaters for drugs is a standard practice, useful in estimating leading drugs. Therefore, the question is whether it should be implemented as an established practice in Gothenburg too.
Risks
The risk of the online market increasing in Gothenburg is that it’s easier to buy and sell drugs. Roberto Tomé: “It’s too easy to be anonymous, too easy to do things without personal contact and too easy to even sell dirty drugs.” Furthermore, we should bear in mind that behind those numbers there are people, who can fall into the treacherous spiral of addiction.
Snapchat and Instagram are teenagers’ playgrounds and spaces to express themselves and with drugs pervading those social environments the risk of creating younger addicts is higher than ever. Hashtags and emojis are teenagers’ language and for them navigating into illegal markets using those codes is effortless.
As Roberto Tomé said, the police are trying to track the social media accounts and numerous websites on the darknet, but he thinks they can do better: “I would say that we have to put more force in investigating the online market.”
* His real name will remain anonymous, but is known by the editorial office.