Third member of dark web drug network sentenced

A third man has appeared at Bristol Crown Court and been jailed for conspiracy to supply cocaine through the dark web. 

Helio Delfini, 43, of Rotherhithe Street in Southwark, London, who pleaded guilty in March last year, was sentenced on Friday (17 April) to eight years imprisonment. 

Along with Lucas Costa and Bruno Teles, Delfini was behind a vendor named ‘UKWhite’ operating on various marketplaces on the dark web supplying cocaine. In February this year Costa was sentenced to 14 years and Teles was sentenced to 12 years for two counts of conspiracy to supply cocaine and three counts of possessing a class C drug with intent to supply. 

Officers from the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU) evidenced that thousands of transactions were made through UKWhite with more than 28 kilos of high-purity cocaine sent to customers across the UK and internationally over a period of 14 months.  

Buyers purchased cocaine in quantities ranging from half‑gram deals to 100‑gram or more bulk orders, which were posted from the men’s London addresses.  

SWROCU began the investigation into the global distribution network back in 2020 and despite the complex high-tech setup they were able to expose the perpetrators and bring them to justice.

DI Ross Flay of SWROCU said:

“Along with his co-conspirators, Delfini used anonymising technology and cryptocurrency‑based payments to run a sophisticated dark web drug supply network from his home in London.

“However, thanks to the painstaking digital forensic work undertaken by my colleagues and with support from our international partners, we were able to identify the people behind UKWhite and remove the vendor from the dark web.”