Ohio among states affected by $150 million Bitcoin drug trafficking ring

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — A man has pleaded guilty to trafficking hundreds of kilograms of drugs in Columbus and across the United States using the dark web, a criminal enterprise that led to the Drug Enforcement Agency’s largest seizure of cryptocurrency in the federal agency’s history.

Banmeet Singh, 40, of India, pleaded guilty in the U.S. Southern District of Ohio on Friday on charges of conspiracy to distribute narcotics and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Singh coordinated the sale of LSD, fentanyl, MDMA, Xanax and other controlled substances using dark web marketplaces, sending the drugs through the mail in exchange for cash, money orders and cryptocurrency.

Along with pleading guilty, Singh forfeited more than $150 million in cryptocurrency accounts, mostly Bitcoin, the largest single digital asset seizure in the DEA’s history.

“No amount of planning or attempts to conceal illegal activities will render them beyond the discovery of law enforcement and good, investigatory work,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio Kenneth Parker said at a news conference Friday.

According to the federal indictment, Singh, based in London and India, created vendor sites on dark web marketplaces, including the now-defunct Silk Road 1 and Silk Road 2, Alpha Bay and Hansa. Changing between monikers to conceal his identity, Singh sold bulk quantities of controlled substances to distribution centers in Columbus and at least seven other cities across the U.S., including in Florida, Maryland and New York.

From 2012 to 2017, co-conspirators running the distribution centers resold fentanyl, Tramadol, ketamine and other drugs to customers in every U.S. state, Canada, England, Ireland, Jamaica, Scotland and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Parker said at least two people from Columbus purchased bulk shipments of drugs from Singh using cryptocurrency or wire transfers.

Singh was arrested by U.K. authorities in London in 2019 and extradited to the U.S. in 2023. Seven other people have been charged related to the international drug ring, including two people convicted in the Southern District of Ohio.

The DEA named Singh a “Consolidated Priority Target,” which DEA Special Agent in Charge Orville Greene said is reserved for “leaders of the most prolific drug trafficking and money laundering organizations who have the greatest impact to the illicit drug supply in the United States.”

“His criminal organization distributed hundreds of kilograms and tens of thousands of pills of controlled substances throughout the United States and the world,” Greene said.

When asked why Singh was prosecuted in Ohio, Parker said it was a “myth that most people believe” that drug trafficking rings primarily operate through and are prosecuted at the U.S.’s southern border. With the connection to Ohio — Columbus, in particular — Kenneth said it was important to seek accountability for Singh where he had major impact.

“Our citizens are equally important as anyone else, and we’re not going to wait to see if he’s prosecuted on the border, we’re going to bring him back here,” Parker said.

Singh faces a maximum of 20 years in prison, but Parker said after plea negotiations, he’s likely to face up to eight years instead. He will be deported to India after his sentencing.