A British man who sold fentanyl to people on the Dark Web has been jailed for eight years.
Kyle Enos, 25, from Newport in Wales, was jailed on Monday, February 5, by a judge at Cardiff Crown Court.
Last August the National Crime Agency (NCA) said 60 deaths in the UK since December 2016 had been attributed to fentanyl.
The court heard on Monday that four of those who Enos supplied have since died — including Jack Barton, 23, a Cardiff University student, and Arran Rees, 34, from Carmarthenshire in rural Wales.
Enos, who lived in a luxury flat in Cardiff, pleaded guilty to importing, supplying and exporting fentanyl last year after the National Crime Agency made several test purchase from him on the dark web.
Kyle Enos jailed for 8 years for supplying #fentanyl on the darkweb. This is the interview he gave after being arrested. pic.twitter.com/dkQzFzx95f
— Total Crime (@totalcrime) 5 February 2018
Imported Drug From China
He was arrested in May 2017 by officers from the National Crime Agency and admitted purchasing fentanyl from China every three weeks and shipping it out to customers who bought it on the Dark Web.
Enos, who used the name 'Soviet Bear', even admitted operating a "buy one, get one free" policy in a bit to get more customers.
Fentanyl is a highly toxic synthetic opioid which is 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine.
A dose as small as 0.002g is potentially fatal.
Judge Eleri Rees has sentenced 25 year old Kyle Enos to 8 years for importing, exporting and supplying the class a drug #fentanyl at #Cardiff crown court. The drug is at least 25 times stronger than #heroin….
— Tomos Morgan (@kpmorgan_2010) 5 February 2018
Fentanyl Has Devastated US
In the US, 20,000 people died in 2014 due to overdosing on the drug. In the EU, opioid addiction is also on the rise, leading to high numbers of fentanyl-related deaths as well.
"We have taken action with partners in the UK and overseas against people we believe are responsible for playing Russian roulette with the lives of drug users by mixing synthetic opiods with drugs such as heroin," said Colin Williams from the NCA.
"Kyle Enos is one of these individuals. The NCA will keep targeting the source of the threat, but I would encourage drug users and their friends and family to be vigilant and seek guidance on how to protect themselves and their loved ones".
