Investigation into extremely wealthy Cazes (26) founder AlphaBay who hanged himself in Thai cell

The Narcotics Suppression Bureau is holding a press conference today about the investigation into AlphaBay, an online marketplace on the Darknet that mainly traded drugs and firearms. The founder of AplhaBay, the 26-year-old Canadian, hanged himself in a police cell a week after his arrest, probably because he did not want to be extradited to the US. He could face a life sentence there.

Cazes had been living in Thailand for six years and for a year with his Thai girlfriend in a large villa at Phutthamonthon Sai 3 on the outskirts of Bangkok. In the garage were a nearly $1 million Lamborghini, a Porsche, and his girlfriend's Mini Cooper. Before his arrest, Cazes was building a villa in an upscale neighborhood. It came with a price tag of more than $1,1 million. According to court documents, he also owned a luxury villa in Phuket and a villa in Antigua. When Cazes was arrested at the request of the US authorities, he had amassed a fortune of $ 23 million.

The girlfriend is being investigated further. Police suspect she was also involved in drug trafficking and money laundering. The investigation into the now closed site is being carried out by the authorities of nine countries, including the Netherlands.

Websites on the Darknet are growing like weeds. There is a thriving trade in weapons, fake IDs and drugs, among other things. Visitors keep their identity secret through encrypted messages and anonymous browsers, such as the Tor browser.

Cazes got caught because he started to get sloppy and mistakenly used his personal hotmail address in welcome emails to new visitors. When he was arrested, he was logged into AlphaBay, allowing investigators to access his password and other information. AlphaBay has since been taken offline.

Source: Bangkok Post