2024-04-20 18:06:34
A man who admitted run an international drug ring from his overseas home was released from custody on Friday and was planning to leave the country as early as Saturday, his lawyer said.
At the time of his plea in January, Singh admitted to running an international drug trade from his home in the United Kingdom between 2012 and 2017. The drug ring distributed heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, ecstasy, LSD, ketamine, Xanax and other drugs to at least eight locations in the United States, including Columbus.
Judge Algenon Marbley sentenced Singh to credit for time served. Singh was in custody for one week shy of five years while his case was pending.
Singh also had to forfeit more than 4,000 units of cryptocurrency, valued at more than $245 million as of Friday, as part of his sentence.
Singh’s lawyer, David Thomas, said Singh planned to leave the country voluntarily, possibly as soon as Saturday. Singh is an Indian national who was living in the UK at the time of his arrest in 2019.
Federal prosecutors said the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force had designated Singh as a priority target in 2019. A similar designation, called a Consolidated Priority Organization Target, or CPOT, was given to Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
Singh began working on the traditional Internet before transitioning to the dark web, federal prosecutors said.
Singh has at least seven co-conspirators, federal prosecutors said, including two who were convicted in the Southern District of Ohio. Others face charges in New York, North Carolina, North Dakota and Maryland.
Federal prosecutors said Singh either shipped drugs from Europe to the United States or arranged for them to be shipped following customers placed orders and sent cryptocurrency to seller accounts. The person receiving the drugs would then send them to other designated locations, including Jamaica, Canada, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Scotland, England and Ireland, court records said.
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