Press Images: ​Deutsche Post AG. The other was laziness: Maximilian kept using the same package station that was situated close to his house to send and receive drug parcels. Image: Myles Tweedle. Leipzig Lokales Leipziger Online-Drogendealer „Shiny Flakes“ inspiriert Netflix-Serie 20:38 28.05.2019 Lokales Start am 31. Additionally, the police disclosed how much he made with his business. His shop sites' addresses were registered in Tonga and the Cocos Islands; the servers were in the Netherlands. The clear net and darknet dealer has been in custody at a detention center on Leimener Straße in Leipzig since February 27th. 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. Am Mittwoch führten die Ermittler bundesweit weitere Hausdurchsuchungen durch. The police leave with both dealers, the hard drives, and Mortiz's laptop. However the authorities won't speak to that, except for offering a suggestive, "Maybe.". This was when he began the clandestine setup of distribution channels for his steadily growing drug business. We will continue to report on the trial as it unfolds. Mehr aktuelle News aus Leipzig … Nachrichten » "Shiny Flakes": 38 Hausdurchsuchungen nach Drogenfund in Leipzig Push Mitteilungen FN als Startseite dts Nachrichtenagentur 12.03.2015 | 10:58 … But if I, the dealer, make a mistake, it's deadly.". Der junge Mann, der hinter shiny flakes stand, wurde festgenommen. 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. 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. By signing up to the VICE newsletter you agree to receive electronic communications from VICE that may sometimes include advertisements or sponsored content. However, if Chris is right, this action gives surprising insight into the tactics that rival online dealers use to attack each other. What's definite is that his aggressive rhetoric didn't harm his business. 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. "He wanted to play God," someone family with details of the court case told Motherboard. In Leipzig haben sich nicht nur Online-Händler angesiedelt, die legale Waren vertreiben. 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. "It really wasn't a typical childhood bedroom, but who knows.". 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. According to the prosecutor, he's facing a sentence of 15 years for internationally distributing controlled substances. 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. Press images: Deutsche Post AG. The lion's share of his earnings were actually made in the three months leading up to his arrest. A custom pose from the excited spokesperson for the police at the press conference. They had nothing on him until they were in his room, which was his warehouse and his headquarters. Der 20-Jährige befand sich im … By using dozens of SIM cards and various cell phones he was able to keep certain channels of communication with suppliers separate. All images (when not otherwise stated): Theresa Locker/Motherboard. Maximilian is accused of dealing at least 914 kilograms of drugs worldwide over a period of 14 months. According to the police investigation, on the one hand, he built up a highly professional drug business (he disguised the revenue as profit from a registered freelance web design business); nevertheless, his success and the pressure that came with it made him less careful. Auch wenn das Urteil gegen den Betreiber des Online-Drogen-Shops „Shiny Flakes“ seit mehr als einem Jahr gesprochen ist, werden noch immer Ermittlungsverfahren gegen die Besteller eingeleitet. And this was Maximilian's forte. People following the case have asked how the police were able to shut down the expansively-networked drug empire so quickly. 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. Even though there is a 31-year age difference between the two, they meet regularly. 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. 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.". The police apparently also conducted test buys on the website. The police had nothing on him online. Press photo: Deutsche Post AG. „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 Back then, more than a few people surrounding Shiny Flakes were speculating that the police were responsible for the problems. Obviously secrecy is the supreme virtue when it comes to all the physical and digital traces created by online dealing. Shiny was notorious for his feisty conduct towards colleagues and clients, who he was happy to insult  repeatedly. Even though the two dealers respected each other, they ultimately found themselves in a competitive struggle. An innocent resident of the same apartment building was also also observed, even though the police already had taken a picture of Maximilian. 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. It's hard to imagine the amount of pressure the dealer must have been under. "Then you can launch your barrage of in-depth questions," one officer muttered with hardly disguised disdain. 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. 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. 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. He started using the same package stations all the time to send out his goods. But it's clear that one of Shiny's darknet profiles  was repeatedly visible online long after his arrest. 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. Package stations and boxes, like these shown in Berlin-Pankow, played a central role in the business. 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. 2015 wurde er zu sieben Jahren … Press Image: Deutsche Post AG. The amount of drugs allegedly found in his room is over 15,000 times more than what the law defines as "minor amounts." 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'. 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. On Monday, August 24th, the trial of Maximilian S., the alleged operator of the online drug market Shiny Flakes, began in Leipzig. ", 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. "It really wasn't a typical childhood bedroom, but who knows. Chris told us about that too. But the police weren't the only ones on Moritz's heels. The police also neglect to explain the origin of the message on Shiny Flakes' dealer profile on Evolution. 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.". Moritz, it's clear by now, tried as hard as he could to keep it a one man operation. "Run for your lives" appeared on March 3rd, when the CEO of Shiny Flakes was already sitting in jail. He's arrested before he can reach one of the drives containing incriminating material. "Did he hide these insane amounts under his bed or where do you put all this in a childhood bedroom?" "He's been a big mouth for as long as I've known him." To hand over kilos of drugs. 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. A few of the drugs seized from Maximilian's room at the press conference about his arrest. Now, after almost two years, Shiny Flakes is no more. 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. These kinds of packages continuously surfaced around Leipzig. 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. 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 just want to make us paranoid. one reporter asks. The jaw-dropping drug photo op at the press conference was able to bring an end so some of the online discussions about Shiny Flakes' whereabouts and identity. 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. "Since he was an orderly person, he stored it all on shelves," an officer answers. "The police can make hundreds of mistakes. But when questioned on how they were able to seize the digitally-encrypted currency and look at darknet data, their answers came up short. Ein 20-Jähriger hatte die Drogen gehortet, um sie über den Webversand "Shiny Flakes" gewinnbringend zu verkaufen. 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. Image: author. In Leipzig soll ein 20-Jähriger mittels der Webseite „Shiny Flakes“ Drogen über das Internet verkauft haben. Georg*, 51, drives up to a young man's apartment in the north of Leipzig, Germany, on February 26th, 2015. Während eines Freigangs – S. ist nach wie vor in Haft – war er am Kölner The trial of Maximilian S., the alleged operator of the online drug market Shiny Flakes, began Monday in Leipzig. His competition also had him in their sights, especially over the last year. The police had nothing on him online, until they were right in his room, which served as his warehouse and his headquarters. 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. 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. La strana carriera di Shiny Flakes si è conclusa con la confisca di 4.1 milioni di euro di droga dalla casa di sua madre. What's clear is that Moritz is a highly intelligent nerd with arrogant tendencies. Maximilian was a busy young man who planned his operations meticulously and was adequately equipped for comprehensive trade in narcotics worldwide. Instead, the Leipzig Police contacted property management and surveilled a totally innocent individual for over a week. "The police can make hundreds of mistakes," another drug dealer, who's known Shiny for a while, explained regarding the pitfalls of online dealing. 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. 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. But this time, they aren't alone. Shiny-Flakes-Prozess "Kinderzimmer-Dealer" geht gegen Urteil vor Von seinem Kinderzimmer aus betrieb Max S. einen florierenden Drogen-Onlineshop. The supposed anonymity of online dealing has changed the profile of the successful dealer. 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. 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 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. Then there are the supply-end problems. 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. 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. 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. Yet Shiny was still careful when having a one-on-one conversation with Chris. A total of 38 locations were searched and five other individuals were arrested. 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. So the police asked 23 post offices around Germany for similar instances and assessed the data they received. He knew that the police wouldn't be capable of reading his emails that were PGP encrypted or following his Bitcoin cash flows. Another thing that stood out to investigators was the routine nature of his deliveries. 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. All images (when not stated otherwise) by Theresa Locker. On this mild winter day, the cops make their move. 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. 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. ​. In the presentation that follows, the police portray themselves like they're on an episode of Crimewatch. 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. He was smart enough to know how to set up his online business with the help of Tor without being discovered. 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. 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. 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. Moreover, the relevant servers are located abroad. 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."