London - The Silk Road was a trading website which sold everything from heroin to legal highs.
It was used by thousands of drug dealers and could only be accessed by downloading a special browser intended to grant users anonymity.
Users traded drugs such as cocaine, ecstasy and LSD as well as fake utility bills and driving licences. As of March this year, the site had 10 000 products for sale – 70 percent of which were illegal drugs. After the shopper had selected their purchase and paid for it, the dealer would send the drugs by post.
Since its launch in 2011, the site generated sales of more than £750m. It was shut down by the FBI last month. Its alleged mastermind, Ross William Ulbricht, 29, from Texas, was arrested by in San Franciso on October 1 and charged with narcotics trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of ten years in prison and a maximum of life. - Daily Mail