New information to how the German police busted Shiny Flakes.

http://motherboard.vice.com/de/read/wie-polizei-und-lka-shiny-flakes-auf-die-spur-kamen-777

Some new information how the German police found Shiny Flakes. I ran it through translate and tried to improve the important bits. He will be on trial for selling 914 kg of drugs.

On August 24, begins in Leipzig, the trial of Maximilian S., the alleged operator of the previous online drug marketplace Shiny Flakes. While the investigators are now trying to get rid of 1,197 Bitcoins drug money from his ten wallets in an emergency sale, his lawyer Stefan Costabel will by then many moving boxes have rolled with investigation files, to prepare his defense, perhaps the most difficult.

The burden of proof against the 20-year-olds is overwhelming. The prosecution accuses him of having acted in a period of 14 months with at least 914 kg drugs. Maximilian should not only have pretty much sold all illegal substances except heroin, but have dealt with a battery of prescription drugs. These were the officials in February this year in addition to huge amounts of MDMA, speed, cocaine, LSD, hashish, 49,000 Euro cash and precision scales and vacuum devices in the room of Leipzig apartment that he was with his mother and stepfather lived-it one of the largest drug discoveries in the history of the Federal Republic.

Observers of the case have wondered how LKA and police were able to shut down the widely networked drug empire so quickly. Our research in recent months show that the investigators have not found Maximilian by specialized cybercrime expertise, but classic detective work and some luck. How exactly expired access, we can, thanks to information held by Motherboard, now traced exclusively.

Two errors Maximilian proved fatal: Firstly, insufficient franking of his broadcasts, which brought the investigators on the trail to Leipzig, on the other hand laziness: Maximilian always used the same packing station, which was located not far from his home. At the packing station 145-that was-was under video surveillance he take a taxi which he ordered with a cell phone, which he used exclusively for these trips. More than a dozen mobile phones and two dozen SIM cards were seized in his room-an incredible organizational effort, which steadily increase with the extent of the business volume. Must have the pressure under which the dealer stood, one can imagine only with difficulty.

Furthermore it was not smart to make the deliveries at routine appointment. A courier driver from the Netherlands came regularly every Thursday to the supply of drugs for Maximilian the investigators knew now through their observation of the packing station and the doorway. On February 24, 2015, the officials let Maximilian and his couriers handover of 25,000 ecstasy tablets, 20 kilograms of hashish, 10,000 LSD trips and 27 kg amphetamine initially settle at rest, before arresting the courier a few corners in a parking lot while Maximilian the heavy cartons contributed to his room.

The officials had tremendous luck: Besides a delivery list all important logins are right at hand in a pragmatic titled text file.

After the alleged Bulgarian Zhivko Z. courier had been arrested (even against him begins the trial in Leipzig on 24 August.), a whole hour passed before the police accessed in Maximilians rooms, to which a special task force gave forcibly entered. At this point, the officials had tremendous luck; because Maximilian was not nearly as restrictive with its data, as he liked to think about and had also indicated in the motherboard Interview:

Not only were the officials on his computer a neatly guided delivery list, complete with status notices to individual orders since December 2013 but also a document on the all important logins were given to operate the platforms. It has quite a stroke of luck for officials have been, who did not know even a month earlier, against whom they e they determine actually, and now suddenly standing in the room of a 20-year old which was filled to the ceiling with drugs and the most important Access data was found in a pragmatic titled text file.

From Cloudflare on the server at a Dutch company everything was thus actually been served on a silver platter, which made it possible for the the police for further investigation and for convenient switching off the sales platform. Shortly thereafter, emblazoned on the shiny flakes site has a banner ad for the diverse training opportunities at the Saxon police.

There is no question that Maximilian carefully and thoughtfully going through a great period of time and provided protection in many ways. He used two dozen SIM card, various mobile phones for separate contacts being established with suppliers as well as tools with which he could himself create magnetic cards to collect the goods using chopped mail accounts through a packing station and ship. Maximilian S. was a busy young man who planned prudently and was comprehensively equipped for the global trade in narcotics. In particular, he seems to have protected his door-because to date claimed the accused that mother and stepfather would not notice its profitable start-up because he had holed up literally for his business in his room.

Before his retirement from the outside world Maximilian had an entirely different occupation with customer contact: After his high-school diploma in Leipzig 2011 he began an apprenticeship as a restaurant manager at an Italian restaurant, where he was a diligent, if you want be noticed stiff and neat. When he broke the formation in 2013, the disappointing his boss. What then, however, it brought him to the rather startling career change, however, is still unclear. It is clear that Maximilian shut increasingly, be filed for as a small business web design and made at the same time in the Darknet and Clearnet to the clandestine channels of distribution of an ever-growing drug business.

The perceived anonymity of online trading has changed the the successful trader profile: It is no longer necessarily the violent, terrifying Strippenzieher but-as the example of Ross Ulbricht shows-if in doubt just sometimes a solitary New Kid On The Block, who prefers sitting at home than on the road to act, has little contact with the outside world and has its strengths in the strategy in dealing with computers, cryptography and logistics.

Of course, secrecy supreme Good at all physical and digital traces that need to blur it in the online drug trafficking. Therein lay Maximilian Forte: He knew that the police would be neither able to read his PGP-encrypted e-mails, even to pursue his Bitcoin cash flows. He also knew how he was able to hire smart enough using the Tor network in digital distribution without unmask itself. The addresses of its store sites were registered in Tonga and the Cocos Islands, the servers were in the Netherlands. He operated in the Darknet and Clearnet, campaigned openly with his offer and felt safe. As sure as someone feels that offers, while its customers and regularly insulted a big collection of illegal substances worldwide. Online could the police not harm him, until they were in his room, the warehouse and headquarters was simultaneously.

The more likely it is now the question of why the police have been waiting for so long to the driver's arrest with the access to the apartment. Had Maximilian had a consultation at this time and the courier does not reach by phone, he would have been alerted and possibly could destroy evidence.

Even otherwise the officials proved partly not too great tactical skill in the investigation: For example, a first totally uninvolved other tenants of the apartment building was under surveillance and suspected of being the operator of drug shipping Shiny Flakes, although it was the police succeeded in Gohlis, shortly before the end of January to take a picture of Maximilian to "his" packing station and trace it back to his house. A simple comparison with the personal data and passport photographs stored at the registration office had dispelled the suspicion. However, the Leipziger investigators consulted instead the property manager and watched for a bit longer than a week a completely uninvolved.

Whether the former drug kingpin who is sitting in custody for six months, can now be sentenced even to juvenile justice, is very questionable: In his room there were so many drugs that the term "minor amount" by more than exceeds 15,000 times. If adult criminal law to be applied, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

From the progress of the process, we will continue to report.


Comments


[49 Points] dog_on_acid:

914kg! Hoooly Shit!! I knew the guy was a big dealer but fuck me!! Nearly a ton of drugs at 20! That's just heroic.


[43 Points] RennHuhn:

And he will have a life after this even a life sentence is 15 years in Germany AFAIK. As long as you are not considered a threat you are out after that. There also isnt the practice of stacking charges. Even if they charge him for every single of these 13000 transactions the maximum they can give him is 15 years.

There is a court ruling that forbids any sentence where there isnt a possebillity of gaining freedom again. There is a concept of life long sentence, where typically you are released after 17-20 years. Only when you murdered people in a really bad way or tortured them and similar things it gets expanded.


[13 Points] IGetDankShit:

How was he so hooked up by the age of 20?


[9 Points] None:

I'm sure a lot of people will say that if he wasn't so lazy and mixed up his drop offs he would still be selling today. I think if LE wants you bad enough they're going to get you. All you need to do is make one mistake.


[5 Points] bennymachete:

Any sane, mentally-stable, older person would have used the 49k euro cash to rent out multiple addresses to operate from, instead of centralizing the entire operation at his parent's house.

Never sell no 900kg from your parent's house.

Never keep no 300kg on you in your childhood bedroom.

Keep your family and business completely separated.


[3 Points] boogerboy23:

[deleted]

What is this?


[2 Points] None:

solitary New Kid On The Block

LMAOOOoooo wut


[2 Points] troubledteendwight:

Forgive me as I'm having some trouble understanding the style of English used by the author. Can someone please explain how this guy got caught? I realize he used the same drop. But why did the investigation begin? They suspected someone was shipping from that drop? They were investigating someone else in his apartment complex? I'm confused.


[1 Points] None:

[deleted]


[1 Points] otistoole:

maybe this did happen the way that they said it did, but I am of the mind that they have ways and means of catching people that they don't want getting out....LE remembers how difficult it became when phone wiretapping became commonly known about, all those hours wasted listening to criminals who knew they were being listened to....

I just don't think they would be dumb enough to relive all that in the computer age