Dark Web Intelligence Uncovers Fentanyl Trafficking Networks Persisting on Telegram - Part 2

Another DTO that HUNTER investigators observed hocking their wares in the XLeetTools Telegram channel was ‘Narko Wróżka.’ In English, “wróżka” loosely translates to fairy, a motif that is reflected in the DTO’s brand logo. Narko Wróżka’s menu offering is also more extensive than DragonLabz’s, as the group and deals in the following vice substances:

“weed, coke, 4mmc, 4-mmc, mephedrone, mefedron, kokaina, zioło, lsd, extasy, xtc, mdma, lean, ice, speed, eufo, pills, fishscale, oxycontin, oxydolor, 80mg, pods, cali, muha meda, indica, dihydrocodeine, haze, cali, buds, oxycodone, oksykodon, mid cali, hybrid, indica, sativa, xanax, 3cmc, methclephedrone, 3-cmc, cmc, ice.”

On Narko Wróżka’s official Telegram channel, the reader can see that this DTO ships their products “directly” out of Warsaw, Poland. Notably, the group’s Telegram announcement states that the DTO ships to “all countries.”

The Polish localization of this DTO is significant as, the Central European country has recently become a rising hub for synthetic drug production. Last August, for example, a joint operation conducted by the Polish Police Central Bureau of Investigation and the Counter Narcotics Department of the National Police of Ukraine dismantled the largest synthetic opioid production laboratory ever discovered in Poland.

This law enforcement operation also resulted in the dismantling of eight “multi-laboratories in Poland and Ukraine, used for the production of synthetic cathinones (mephedrone, Alpha-PVP) and methadone,” according to a Europol press release. Poland’s recent emergence as a synthetic drug production hub is in part a byproduct of the Eastern European criminal diaspora and disruption of drug smuggling routes caused by the Ukraine war.

In fact, the historic synthetic opioid and drug production operation recently dismantled by law enforcement was exclusively managed by Ukrainian nationals, according to Polish media reports. In 2023, Resecurity highlighted the role of the infamous Khimprom Syndicate, a Ruso-Ukrainian DTO, in the management and oversight of leading Russian-language dark web drug markets. Notably, the group specializes in the production of Alpha-PVP (Flakka), a highly dangerous synthetic cathinone that is popular among young recreational drug users in Russia and, increasingly, in surrounding countries.

Furthermore, a recent news report in Polish media outlet Wyborcza quoted a former undercover police officer named Jan "Majami" Fabjańczyk who alleged that “Ukrainians have taken over a large part of the drug business” in Warsaw. Additionally, Polish media outlet Rzeczpospolita Daily reported last July that local law enforcement had uncovered a sharp rise in the number of synthetic drug labs operating in the country, with authorities dismantling 33 such facilities over the past 12 months – an average of five labs per month.

In 2023, Polish authorities dismantled 56 such labs. Notably these labs specialized in the production of mephedrone (4-MMC) and clephedrone (4-CMC), substances that are colloquially referred to as “poor man’s cocaine” in Poland, according to the news report. Also called ‘Mati’ in Polish slang, mephedrone offers drug producers an attractive value proposition because the manufacturing process is much more rapid than amphetamines, according to a Wyborcza interview with the deputy head of the Warsaw Police’s Department for Combating Drug Crime at the Monika Domańska.

Domańska told the news outlet that mephedrone is “produced quickly in improvised amateur ‘laboratories’ hidden in sheds, barns or other inconspicuous farm buildings. The ingredients for its preparation are cheap, so producing a huge amount of it is peanuts compared to the earnings.” According to Europol, synthetic cathinones like 4-MMC and Alpha-PVP “represent an increasing problem in several EU Member States.” These drugs “cause serious psychological and neurological disorders, and their abuse is associated with a high risk of addiction, organ damage, and death,” said Europol.

Thus, it is significant that the Warsaw-based Narko Wróżka DTO promotes the sale of 4-MMC and its analog 3-CMC on its Telegram channel.

Another interesting designer drug brand listed for sale by Narko Wróżka is 250 MG Blue Punisher MDMA. HUNTER investigators frequently encountered this MDMA brand being sold in Telegram drug channels serving the European market. Blue Punisher is a particularly potent brand of MDMA and has been linked to at least one fatal overdose as far away as Australia.

In the context of last Summer’s record-breaking, synthetic opioid lab bust in Poland, Narko Wróżka’s promotion of the semi-synthetic opioid OxyContin is also noteworthy. Notably, the OxyContin packaging indicates that these pills are produced by Mundipharma. Mundipharma is a British multinational pharmaceutical research company owned by members of the disgraced Sackler family. Mundipharma is one of the leading (if not the most dominant) prescription opioid producer in Europe.

An investigation conducted by Finance Uncovered last September found that the “Sackler’s non-U.S. companies—known collectively as Mundipharma—have continued to make significant sales outside the U.S. from a drugs portfolio which includes painkillers that use active ingredients oxycodone as well as morphine and tramadol.”

In Europe’s five largest economies—Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain— Finance Uncovered also found that the Sacklers’ “main pharmaceutical sales companies recorded combined sales of $439 million in the three years from 2020 to 2022.”

In the backdrop of this nominally legitimate European opioid economy, the marketing of illegally diverted prescription drugs like OxyContin on Telegram raises concerns that DTOs are exploiting prevailing pharmaceutical industry demand trends to create a deeper local and regional market for illicit opioids. For example, a 2021 study conducted by Cambridge University surveyed 19 European countries and found that most countries showed increased prescription opioid use from 2010 to 2018.

More broadly, the 2024 EMCDDA report cautions that “political changes in Afghanistan, the main source of the heroin consumed in Europe, are expected to disrupt this market,” with an emphasis on the Taliban’s ban on opium poppy cultivation. The EMCDDA notes that this prohibition could “precipitate a decrease in heroin availability in the European Union that could lead to market gaps being filled by other drugs, including potent synthetic opioids.”

Given the deadly toll of the fentanyl epidemic in North America, authorities are reasonably worried that any meaningful concentration of OxyContin and methadone addicts could mirror the trajectory of the U.S. crisis and pave the way for dedicated fentanyl trafficking in Europe. In fact, Rzeczpospolita Daily has reported that fentanyl was first detected in Poland’s criminal drug markets in the Fall of 2023.

Also, like DragonLabz, Narko Wróżka prices their kilogram quantities of high-grade cocaine near the €30,000 level, again reflecting the significant drop in the wholesale value of the drug throughout Europe.

As indicated by Narko Wróżka’s te.legra.ph menu, the DTO is selling a kilo of 90.7% pure Colombian cocaine, branded ‘611’, for just €32,000.

Further highlighting the growing role of Poland in global drug trafficking, a September 2024 Financial Times report noted that Polish-flagged yachts are increasingly being “used by criminals to export cocaine and other drugs across the Atlantic from South America to Europe and elsewhere,” citing warnings from the UNODC and the watchdog Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre. Julien Garsany, the Brussels representative for the UNODC, told the media outlet that drug traffickers are taking advantage of a legal loophole that gives Polish vessels ‘de facto immunity’ from arrest in international waters.

The FT report elaborated that “Poland’s has become the latest flag in vogue with criminals, who are exploiting the rush by British and other boat-owners to use the EU country’s cheap registration system for small sailing yachts and other boats up to 24m long.” The UNODC and the MAOC told the FT that “criminals may be exploiting the fact that Poland is not properly implementing international rules that would allow other countries to board Polish-flagged vessels at sea.”

Resecurity’s investigation reveals how the digital platforming of drug trafficking operations on Telegram reflects geopolitical and logistical shifts in the nuts-and-bolts mechanics of the global narcotics trade. Notably, a report published by Polish investigative journalism outlet OKO.press included an interview with a local drug underworld insider who estimated that there are 50 different Telegram-based drug operations servicing the capital city of Warsaw alone. The insider also estimated that there were over 200 Warsaw-based dealers using Telegram to peddle dope.

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Dark Web Intelligence Uncovers Fentanyl Trafficking Networks Persisting on Telegram - Part 3
https://www.resecurity.com/blog/article/dark-web-intelligence-uncovers-fentanyl-trafficking-networks...