The seizure of 320 kilos of drugs with a market value of 4.1 million euros was one of the largest in Germany's history. They not only found a neatly laid-out list of all deliveries, they also found a text document on his laptop containing the most important logins. ", "How am I supposed to picture this?" ​, Responding to the authorities' proud claim that they're now basically able to do crackdowns within the darknet, Chris*—another darknet dealer who's known the accused for over a year—assuredly explains, "I don't believe that. Fall „Shiny Flakes“ - Kinderzimmer- Dealer jetzt Stoff für Netflix-Serie Leipzig – Ein Leipziger Kriminalfall wird zur Comedy-Serie. Während eines Freigangs – S. ist nach wie vor in Haft – war er am Kölner View attachment 45718 The trial of Maximilian S., the alleged operator of the online drug market Shiny Flakes, began Monday in Leipzig. Image: author. Whether it was actually posted by Shiny, who was a registered dealer on three deep web markets, can't be conclusively determined today—maybe Shiny was just trying to alienate other dealers that gave him bad ratings. Image: Myles Tweedle. A successful plea to the court to try him as a juvenile after he single-handedly constructed an extremely profitable drug business currently seems unlikely. This story has been translated from Motherboard Germany. Georg*, 51, drives up to a young man's apartment in the north of Leipzig, Germany, on February 26th, 2015. In the presentation that follows, the police portray themselves like they're on an episode of Crimewatch. At this point the authorities had amazing luck: Prosecutors allege that Maximilian was not as protective of his data as he let on in an interview with Motherboard. They boast of having captured data from the darknet and employing highly-specialized IT cracks during the investigation, leading to its success. After completing high school in Leipzig in 2011, he began an apprenticeship in an Italian restaurant, where he's remembered for being hardworking but also stiff. He always ordered these taxis using a cell phone he used exclusively for this purpose. Chris claims to be partially responsible for Shiny changing his PGP key in mid-February, forcing him to move his domain. It's very probable that Dutchmaster was one of Shiny's suppliers. Officers in Leipzig apprehended two individuals they believe to have been involved in the web-based Shiny-Flakes narcotics dealership, one a 20 … Und in etwa vier Jahren dürfte der „Shiny-Flakes“-Dealer bei guter Führung auch schon wieder frei sein. But he did have all the paraphernalia necessary for the portioning and packaging of drugs. Urteil rechtskräftig: Shiny Flakes-Admin schuldet Deutschland mehrere Millionen Maximilian S. ist auf Jahrzehnte hochverschuldet—da hilft … Max S. betrieb in seinem Kinderzimmer den Drogen-Onlineshop Shiny-Flakes - er verkaufte fast eine Tonne Drogen. „Shiny Flakes“ vertickte Drogen aus seinem Kinderzimmer – und wird jetzt zur Netflix-Serie NOIZZ.de Leipzig , Berlin , Deutschland , Köln , Bingo „Shiny Flakes“: Über 4 Millionen Euro mit Drogenversand umgesetzt Leipziger Internet Zeitung ​. Whether the former drug kingpin, who has been held in a detention center for half a year now, can still be prosecuted as a minor is also up for debate. Because Moritz—who thought he was invincible and who single-handedly built up and ran his drug empire, Shiny Flakes—still lives with his mom. Shiny Flakes busted! Shortly after the seizure, the Shiny Flakes website displayed a banner advertising career opportunities with the police in Saxony. When the 20-year-old recipient of the drug delivery realizes what's going on, he runs back up the stairs into his mother's apartment and starts ripping the cables out of his hard drives. By signing up to the VICE newsletter you agree to receive electronic communications from VICE that may sometimes include advertisements or sponsored content. Even before they descended on the home Moritz shared with his mother, the police had already intercepted 40 kilos of drugs in the mail. But it's clear that one of Shiny's darknet profiles  was repeatedly visible online long after his arrest. Am vergangenen Freitag nahmen Ermittler in Leipzig den Betreiber des Drogen-Versandshops "Shiny Flakes" fest. The depots served merely as dead drops; often, the packages were addressed to someone other than the person who picked them up, with a second bogus party listed as the return address. He has a high school diploma but no higher education. The police have already been watching for a long time when the pair meet up on the two-lane road in front of the apartment building. And this was Maximilian's forte. On Monday, August 24th, the trial of Maximilian S., the alleged operator of the online drug market Shiny Flakes, began in Leipzig. According to prosecutors, a courier from the Netherlands drove to the Gohlis district of Leipzig each Thursday to replenish Maximilian's supply of drugs—investigators knew this from watching the package station and the entrance to his house. The message: Nobody is out of reach of the law's eagle eyes, not the street dealer, not the darknet vendor and not even the customers. If Maximilian had had a question for the driver, called him, and had been unable to reach him, he could have gotten alarmed and could have started destroying evidence. For most visitors it just look a little bit more inviting than similar notes after police darknet operations that ​we have s​een in the past. One was the insufficient postage on a package that focused investigator's attention on Leipzig. He would take taxis to package station 145, which was under video surveillance. But this time, they aren't alone. Just a day later, on March 11th, the rumors that had been flying around for days online about the end of Shiny Flakes were finally confirmed. One of the largest DHL logistic centers in Europe is about 10 kilometers north of Leipzig-Gohlis and right next to the Leipzig-Halle airport. Faced with an overwhelming amount of evidence against him, Moritz's chances in court aren't looking too good, although he has retained the experienced defense attorney, Stefan Costabel. A small selection of the drugs found in Moritz's room: hash, speed paste, kilos of ecstasy. ", He also added that, in the end, it looks like Moritz became either too greedy or too sloppy: "I would never use the same username for more than a year, even if it is practical and appealing. "He's been a big mouth for as long as I've known him." On February 24th, the authorities allowed Maximilian to meet the courier to receive 25,000 ecstasy pills, 20 kilos of hash, 10,000 doses of LSD and 27 kilos of amphetamine without incident. The longtime online dealer said Shiny had a very specific attitude and a strange sense of humor. Drogenversand "Shiny Flakes": Shopbetreiber Maximilian S. kündigt Aussage an – Nachrichten aus Leipzig - Leipziger Zeitung Leipziger Internet-Zeitung Aktuelles in eigener Sache: Neue Website online 29. In Leipzig soll ein 20-Jähriger mittels der Webseite „Shiny Flakes“ Drogen über das Internet verkauft haben. Nachrichten » "Shiny Flakes": 38 Hausdurchsuchungen nach Drogenfund in Leipzig Push Mitteilungen FN als Startseite dts Nachrichtenagentur 12.03.2015 | 10:58 … "The police can make hundreds of mistakes," another drug dealer, who's known Shiny for a while, explained regarding the pitfalls of online dealing. Seit Ende Februar 2015 müssen alle Kunden von Shiny Flakes bangen. A screencapture of Shiny Flakes' webshop shortly before it was taken offline. one reporter asks. Yet Shiny was still careful when having a one-on-one conversation with Chris. The Dutch authorities recently raided the wholesale supplier, Dutchmaster, which led this month to search warrants being issued for other German dealers, including colleagues of Chris'. Obviously secrecy is the supreme virtue when it comes to all the physical and digital traces created by online dealing. These kinds of packages continuously surfaced around Leipzig. The police had nothing on him online. Shiny-Flakes-Prozess "Kinderzimmer-Dealer" geht gegen Urteil vor Von seinem Kinderzimmer aus betrieb Max S. einen florierenden Drogen-Onlineshop. Ein 20-Jähriger hatte die Drogen gehortet, um sie über den Webversand "Shiny Flakes" gewinnbringend zu verkaufen. Leipzig – LSD, XTC, Kokain, Haschisch und Amphetamine – bei der Internet-Drogenbörse „Shiny Flakes“ gab es fast alles.Bis der Betreiber aufflog. Leipzig - Es ist einer der größten Drogenfunde in Deutschland: Die Leipziger Ermittlungsbehörden haben offenbar einen 20-jährigen Dealer überführt, der … Im Prozess am Landgericht war von rund 6000 Ermittlungsverfahren gegen mutmaßliche Kunden von „Shiny Flakes“ die Rede. Lead image:  Just a small portion of the 320 kg of all sorts of drugs, that were seized during the raid. Der 20-Jährige befand sich im … But if I, the dealer, make a mistake, it's deadly.". After the drop, the courier took off, only to be nabbed by the police in a parking lot after turning a few corners while Maximilian was carrying the heavy boxes up to his room. Coke and ketamine didn't make it into the picture. Among the pills are several bulging freezer bags of high-dose, red pills of ecstasy known Burger Kings, which Shiny Flakes claimed to distribute exclusively. A simple comparison with the personal information and photos of the building's residents at the Leipzig registration office could have cleared this other suspect. For law enforcement, it's the conclusion of a meticulous months-long investigation, an equally historic and rare triumph against the online drug trade. He knew that the police wouldn't be capable of reading his emails that were PGP encrypted or following his Bitcoin cash flows. More than a dozen cell phones and more than two dozen SIM cards were discovered in his room, demonstrating a high amount of effort put into logistics and organization, which continuously grew as the volume of his business did—allegedly hitting 4.1 million euros revenue per year as of February 2015. Moritz, it's clear by now, tried as hard as he could to keep it a one man operation. The police reveal what's under the white sheets at headquarters: boxes of speed paste, mountains of hash, pharmaceutical packages, packets of cocaine, unimaginable amounts of colorful ecstasy pills, meth, and gray-purple shimmering MDMA. Press photo: Deutsche Post AG. It was one of the biggest drug busts in German history. Der „Kinderzimmer-Dealer“ sitzt mit knallroten Ohren auf der Anklagebank im Landgericht Leipzig und legt ein Geständnis ab. An innocent resident of the same apartment building was also also observed, even though the police already had taken a picture of Maximilian. The clear net and darknet dealer has been in custody at a detention center on Leimener Straße in Leipzig since February 27th. The reporters are happy to have the police teach them about the darknet. A large part of the investigation's success though was due to more classic police work, especially the use of surveillance. "He wanted to play God," someone family with details of the court case told Motherboard. The man behind Shiny Flakes has been sitting in penal facility since February 27th. However the authorities won't speak to that, except for offering a suggestive, "Maybe.". On this mild winter day, the cops make their move. However, it is possible that when the police confiscated Moritz's laptop during the raid, he was still logged into his Bitcoin wallet. A mysterious post on Shiny Flakes' dealer profile on another darknet black market now appears to be a kind of prophecy: "Dealers, run for your lives.". Chris told us about that too. "The police can make hundreds of mistakes. If you believe the local police, nobody is out of reach of the law's eagle eyes. It was the culmination of an unprecedented career in drug dealing, which in less than two years turned the 20-year-old Mortiz* into one of the biggest online dealers in Germany, according to police. Instead of spending his time worrying about Bitcoin transactions, supply-side issues, bagging out crystal, and paranoid customers' vitriol, Moritz now can enjoy the leisure of incarceration: Different leisure activities on offer at the detention center in Leipzig. What's more in question is why the police waited so long to take the apartment after arresting the courier. „ Netflix “ verfilmt die Story um Maximilian S. (23) aus Gohlis, der von seinem Kinderzimmer aus Everything the police needed for further investigations and for effortlessly shutting down the platform was laid out for them on a silver platter, from Cloudflare access to the login details for his servers at a Dutch company. Officers in Leipzig apprehended two individuals they believe to have been involved in the web-based Shiny-Flakes narcotics dealership, one a 20-year-old whose apartment was searched on … Professional Nerds won't be tried as Juveniles. By using dozens of SIM cards and various cell phones he was able to keep certain channels of communication with suppliers separate. After the police became suspicious of a package with insufficient postage on it, all they had to do was keep an eye out for more packages of the same size with the various stamps and return addresses. In Leipzig haben sich nicht nur Online-Händler angesiedelt, die legale Waren vertreiben. Shiny Flakes' original dot com domain happened to be registered anew just one day after the raid at Moritz's mom's place—to a new name and address. People following the case have asked how the police were able to shut down the expansively-networked drug empire so quickly. In an exclusive ​interview with Motherboard in September of 2014, Shiny said himself, "If a customer is unsatisfied with a product, I get very direct.". Shiny Flakes' original dot com domain happened to be registered anew just one day after the raid at Moritz's mom's place—to a new name and address. "Did he hide these insane amounts under his bed or where do you put all this in a childhood bedroom?" At the press conference, the police also claim to have seized 325,000 euros in Bitcoin and additionally claim to have "obtained active data from the darknet." The police apparently also conducted test buys on the website. While the authorities continue trying to auction off the 1,197 bitcoins seized from his 10 wallets, his lawyer, Stefan Costabel, is pouring over the many boxes of investigation files, preparing for what may be his hardest defense ever. Shiny Flakes tauchte während der Dreharbeiten zur Serie plötzlich mal im Produktionsbüro auf, so erzählt Lars Montag. The DIY drug boss' business had gotten out of hand, at least in recent months. This was when he began the clandestine setup of distribution channels for his steadily growing drug business. The starting point for the authorities' investigation was a package with insufficient postage that didn't find its way back to the (nonexistent) sender and was opened at some point. The logistic center in Leipzig in which the first suspicious packages surfaced. However, if Chris is right, this action gives surprising insight into the tactics that rival online dealers use to attack each other. Moreover, the relevant servers are located abroad. Two mistakes sealed Maximilian's fate. By the end of January, 2015, after keeping several package stations under surveillance, they identified an individual who was sending as well as receiving suspicious packages. He also had the tools for setting up magnetic cards to send and receive goods from the package station with hacked post accounts. Only a month prior to the seizure they had no idea who they were actually looking for, then imagine: They're standing in a 20-year-old's bedroom that's packed to the brim with drugs with a text document open on his laptop giving them access to all of his accounts. The police also neglect to explain the origin of the message on Shiny Flakes' dealer profile on Evolution. He seems to have been especially diligent about securing the door to his room—to this day the defendant claims that his mother and stepfather knew nothing about his profitable startup because he would fortify himself in his room whenever he was conducting business. The presser consisted of a few speeches—from Leipzig police officers and city prosecutors—and then the bigger presentation of the seized drugs, which are still concealed under tablecloths. He operated on the darknet and clearnet, advertised what he was selling openly, and felt safe—as safe as you can feel when you're selling a huge variety of illegal substances globally. He's arrested before he can reach one of the drives containing incriminating material. Ein … For the presentation of the confiscated drugs, the police set up long tables. The supposed anonymity of online dealing has changed the profile of the successful dealer. The police proudly present the confiscated goods: 50,000 hits of LSD, among others. Maximilian was a busy young man who planned his operations meticulously and was adequately equipped for comprehensive trade in narcotics worldwide. ", DHL logistics hubs in Saxony like this one in Radeberg are the nodal points that the majority of Shiny Flakes' domestic and probably also international deliveries passed through. An innocent resident of the same apartment building in Gohlis was also observed and suspected of being the operator of the Shiny Flakes drug delivery business, even though the police had succeeded in taking a picture of Maximilian at "his" package station and in following him back to his apartment building. What's clear is that Moritz is a highly intelligent nerd with arrogant tendencies. He just got too reckless. The young man set up a "professional inventory control system, like in a department store," the police said. The police publicized the success of their raid that afternoon, uploading on both Shiny Flakes' clearnet website and on his Onion domain, hosted on the darknet, an advertisement for careers in the Saxon police: "One job—1000 possibilities." Er wurde inzwischen auch schon zu einer mehrjährigen Jugendstrafe Our research over the past months has shown that investigators didn't get onto Maximilian's trail in the way they purported to do so during a press conference they gave—basically, by using their supposed cybercrime expertise—but rather were able to find him using traditional investigative measures. Press images: Deutsche Post AG. It's certain that Maximilian, should he be guilty of running Shiny Flakes, nonetheless operated with caution and sophistication for a long time and safeguarded himself in many respects. The authorities were very lucky. His shop sites' addresses were registered in Tonga and the Cocos Islands; the servers were in the Netherlands. It remains to be seen whether the new registrant will attract the attention of the Saxon Police. The Gohlis district in the North of Leipzig, where Motitz's mother lived, is an unassuming and friendly residential neighborhood. A press conference held to discuss the standing of the case and the background of the investigation was filled with reporters from all the biggest German TV stations and newspapers, as you would expect. He started using the same package stations all the time to send out his goods. All images (when not otherwise stated): Theresa Locker/Motherboard. Another thing that stood out to investigators was the routine nature of his deliveries. A few of the drugs seized from Maximilian's room at the press conference about his arrest. Using one for two years, the way Shiny did, is simply too long. "The customers have a thing for antisocial behavior, they kept coming back to him," says Chris, who knew Shiny from a bigger German online criminal forum. Authorities discovered these along with enormous amounts of MDMA, speed, cocaine, LSD, hash and 49,000 euros in cash, as well as digital scales and vacuum sealing machines, in his room in an apartment in Leipzig where he lived in with his mother and his stepfather. Anfangs nutzte Maximilian S. laut Anklage das Darknet für seine Geschäfte. Whether of all things a hacking attack could have hindered the police from reading older, encrypted emails from Shiny's .com-domain, is as of yet unclear. The lion's share of his earnings were actually made in the three months leading up to his arrest. But the police weren't the only ones on Moritz's heels. Image: Deutsche Post AG. Maximilian is accused of dealing at least 914 kilograms of drugs worldwide over a period of 14 months. It was a pretty lucky find for the authorities. Before he withdrew from the outside world, Maximilian pursued another career involving customer service. Also, plain luck played a big role. After the alleged courier, a Bulgarian called Zhivko Z., was arrested—his trial also begins in Leipzig on August 24th—an entire hour went by before a SWAT team stormed Maximilian's room. The pinpoint surveillance of Moritz's room, checking the incoming and outgoing mail at the nodal point of the DHL logistic center in Radeberg, right next to the Leipzig-Halle airport, and especially staking out certain package stations, that Mortitz allegedly continuously used, all heavily contributed to the success. "Then you can launch your barrage of in-depth questions," one officer muttered with hardly disguised disdain. The trial of Maximilian S., the alleged operator of the online drug market Shiny Flakes, began Monday in Leipzig.While the authorities continue … The police only needed a few days to cull the seized hard drive, which was not encrypted, before they found what they were looking for: practically all the addresses of Shiny's bulk buyers in Germany, the people who ordered kilos of drugs from him to then further distribute. The police say they weren't responsible and they also lack a motive for warning drug dealers about pending search warrants. What is clear is that Maximilian decided he wanted to be his own boss and declared himself to be a web designer. So the police asked 23 post offices around Germany for similar instances and assessed the data they received. Maximilian S. verkaufte unter dem Namen "Shiny Flakes" von Leipzig aus große Mengen Rauschgift über das Netz. They just want to make us paranoid. Even though there is a 31-year age difference between the two, they meet regularly. It's hard to imagine the amount of pressure the dealer must have been under. Neue Netflix-Serie: "Shiny Flakes" und die Drogen aus dem Kinderzimmer Ein Schüler verkauft aus seinem Kinderzimmer übers Internet Drogen und verdient Millionen. After discontinuing his apprenticeship in 2013, his boss was disappointed, but what triggered the rather surprising career change remains completely unclear. The amount of drugs allegedly found in his room is over 15,000 times more than what the law defines as "minor amounts." Additionally, the police disclosed how much he made with his business. According to the prosecutor, he's facing a sentence of 15 years for internationally distributing controlled substances. But when questioned on how they were able to seize the digitally-encrypted currency and look at darknet data, their answers came up short. Package stations and boxes, like these shown in Berlin-Pankow, played a central role in the business. This is where the police first discovered a suspicious, undelivered package. Shiny Flakes sent his goods in these kinds of packages, gladly throwing in a few gummy bears with the ecstasy. They no longer necessarily have to be a violent and scary puppet master—as the example of Ross Ulbricht demonstrates—they can be a loner, new-kid-on-the-block-type, who would rather sit at home and deal online than have contact to the outside world; a person whose strengths lay in strategy, computer skills, cryptography and logistics. They also confiscate 48,000 euros in cash and an unbelievable cache of 320 kilos of all sorts of drugs, sorted, and stored on the shelves in Moritz's childhood bedroom. However, his arrest will barely put a dent into dealing over the darknet. Ach, übrigens: Maximilian S. aka. Instead, the Leipzig Police contacted property management and surveilled a totally innocent individual for over a week. A major drug bust was announced by German police this week. Maximilian did not even own a pocket knife. The unlikely career of a darknet dealer ended when police confiscated 4.1 million euros worth of drugs from his childhood bedroom. The trial of Maximilian S., the alleged operator of the online drug market Shiny Flakes, began Monday in Leipzig. We are now able to trace how the seizure was executed thanks to new information provided exclusively to Motherboard Germany. And the authorities have another thrilling piece of information for those interested in bureaucracy in the audience: "He didn't keep accounting books." Polizei überführt Web-Dealer "Shiny Flakes" - posted in Allgemeines: Leipzig - Es ist einer der größten Drogenfunde in Deutschland: Die Leipziger Ermittlungsbehörden haben offenbar einen 20-jährigen Dealer überführt, der über das Internet in großem Stil Drogen verkauft haben soll. The authorities are accordingly proud and refer to it as a "sensation." Shiny was notorious for his feisty conduct towards colleagues and clients, who he was happy to insult  repeatedly. They had nothing on him until they were in his room, which was his warehouse and his headquarters. Even though the two dealers respected each other, they ultimately found themselves in a competitive struggle. Shiny Flakes' career was just another, short chapter in the online war on drugs, which has only just begun. His competition also had him in their sights, especially over the last year. To hand over kilos of drugs. "It really wasn't a typical childhood bedroom, but who knows. "Since he was an orderly person, he stored it all on shelves," an officer answers. Now, after almost two years, Shiny Flakes is no more. A total of 38 locations were searched and five other individuals were arrested. The other was laziness: Maximilian kept using the same package station that was situated close to his house to send and receive drug parcels. We will continue to report on the trial as it unfolds. The police had nothing on him online, until they were right in his room, which served as his warehouse and his headquarters. Moritz mainly sent his packages within German-speaking countries, but some made it all the way to Indonesia, sometimes by registered mail, often to automated package stations or PO boxes, and, for bigger orders, as traceable deliveries with tracking numbers. Tatvorwurf ist jeweils ein Verstoß gegen das BtMG , genauer: Erwerb von Betäubungsmittel oder gar Handeltreiben mit Betäubungsmitteln. Wenn das kein Grund zur Freude ist! If he's prosecuted as an adult, he faces up to 15 years in prison. The police leave with both dealers, the hard drives, and Mortiz's laptop. Bei einer Wohnungsdurchsuchung der elterlichen Wohnung fanden die Fahnder Drogen im Werte von rund 4 Millionen "It really wasn't a typical childhood bedroom, but who knows.". This constituted a surprising explanation for the delayed deliveries that Shiny's customers kept complaining about, which the pseudonymous dealer had attributed to fear mongering among his buyers.