14 DAY TRIAL // Romanian authorities have agreed to extradite two crooks who were part of a criminal organization named ItalianMafiaBrussels (IBM) that sold illegal drugs via the now defunct Silk Road and Silk Road 2.0 Dark Web marketplaces.
The two suspects are Filip Lucian Simion, 23, and Leonardo Cristea, 25, both of Bucharest, Romania. Authorities arrested the two on May 3, 2016.
The arrests were coordinated by the FBI and Europol during raids that took place simultaneously in four countries: the US, Belgium, Romania, and France.
Two other IMB members arrested in Belgium
Besides the crooks arrested in Romania, authorities detained two other IMB members, named Ymran Djavatkhanov and Andy Nestor, in Brussels, Belgium.
US officials have dropped extradition requests and will let Belgium authorities prosecute Djavatkhanov and Nestor, but have requested the extradition of the two IMB members arrested in Romania.
The US Department of Justice revealed today that the investigation began in July 2013, when authorities intercepted a package holding MDMA (Ecstasy).
Authorities arrested the package's recipient, who agreed to cooperate with investigators, giving law enforcement access to his Silk Road account. Similarly, other package recipients entered similar agreements.
Together with Belgium law enforcement, US officials tracked orders, intercepted packages, and eventually discovered the whereabouts and the identity of the real persons behind the ItalianMafiaBrussels Silk Road username.
Group continued to operate despite initial Silk Road takedown
In addition to data from buyer accounts, investigators received a lot of information about the group after FBI agents shut down the Silk Road marketplace in the autumn of 2013, and the Silk Road 2.0 marketplace in late 2014.
The US pressed charges in 2014 and 2015 against both IMB members and some of their US-based clients. Moreover, US courts have already convicted several IMB customers.
Officials suspect that other IMB members are still at large. The two suspects are charged with importation of controlled substances and money laundering.
In spite of the fact that the FBI took down Silk Road in 2013, arrests and charges continue to appear years after the marketplace's shutdown.