Canadian men sold heroin, fentanyl through darknet under ‘Pharmaphil’ name, feds in Ohio say

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Two Quebecers face charges in the U.S. for being behind a darknet storefront that shipped heroin, fentanyl, carfentanil and other drugs to places in Canada, U.S. and Europe.

Robert Mitrache and Louis-Vincent Bourcier were two of several people behind “Pharmaphil” storefront, which operated on AlphaBay, Dream Market, The Majestic Garden and other darknet marketplaces, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Prosecutors say they had more than 1,500 confirmed sales of heroin, synthetic opioids and methamphetamine.

The men face a 10-count indictment handed up Wednesday in a federal court in Cleveland with Charges include conspiracy and multiple counts of drug distribution.

The drugs they sold were sent to customers in the U.S., Canada, Germany, Austria, Portugal and the Netherlands. They sent their drugs through the Canadian Postal Service and private carriers, according to a grand jury indictment.

In order to hide their identities, they used darknet messaging services, encrypted messaging apps such as WhatsApp and took steps to hide their internet protocol address. They also laundered their proceeds through digital cryptocurrency, prosecutors say.

The men were arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in December 2017 as part of an investigation it called Project Crocodile. Canadian authorities dismantled a clandestine lab in a home in Châteauguay, a suburb of Montreal, a news release says.

The investigation began in April 2017 after a federal officer suffered fentanyl poisoning while inspecting a parcel in the mail. Canadian officials seized more than two pounds of fentanyl and about 125 grams of carfentanil during its December 2017 takedown.

Bourchier, a former Canadian soldier, was sentenced to 12 years in prison in January, according to La Presse, a French language newspaper in Montreal. Prosecutors in Canada said he handled the drugs in the basement of his home, the newspaper reported.

Mitrache, who put the envelopes with the drugs in the mail, was also given a 12-year sentence, La Presse reported.

Neither have yet been extradited to the U.S. to face the new criminal case.

Federal investigators and prosecutors in Ohio have taken a high-profile role in bringing cases involving drug transactions conducted on the darknet, which is not accessible through internet browsers used by most of the public. Then-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions highlighted several cases during a visit to Cleveland last year.

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