Inside the Flying Kangaroo drug gang: How ecstasy marked with the iconic Qantas logo was allegedly sold for Bitcoins on the dark web from a clandestine laboratory in Melbourne where MDMA was hidden in DVD cases
- Paul Rodgerson, 41, plead guilty to trafficking a marketable quantity of MDMA
- The Melbourne father was revealed as the ring leader behind the drug gang
- He’d sell ecstasy stamped with Qantas logo and MDMA hidden in DVD cases
- The illegal drugs were sold on multiple dark net websites using Bitcoins
A dad has been exposed as the ring leader of gang which sold MDMA and ecstasy pills with the Qantas logo on the dark web.
Paul Rodgerson, 41, pleaded guilty to charges including trafficking a marketable quantity of MDMA when he appeared in County Court in Melbourne this week.
The court heard Rodgerson and his friend Robert Olczyk would receive orders for ecstasy, and stamp them with the iconic Qantas logo before using fake IDs to send the drugs to customers.
They would also have pure MDMA imported from Germany to random post office boxes around Australia.
The drugs were sold on dark net websites Wickr, Dream Market and dark web site AlphaBay using Bitcoins.
Paul Rodgerson (pictured), 41, appeared in County Court in Melbourne this week and pleaded guilty to charges including trafficking a marketable quantity of MDMA
An ecstasy tablet is stamped with the Qantas Flying Kangaroo logo
The FBI revealed there were 72 different buyers who purchased 3,130 drugs from Flying Kangaroo using Bitcoin totaling US$32,000.
Rodgerson was found out after a covert operative known as Red Bandit, spotted an ad for the Flying Kangaroo on a dark net website.
‘The time has come for Flying Kangaroo to resurface and bring back the quality and value that our previous buyers are used too (sic.). WE apologise for laying low for so long but we are now back and ready to service your needs…,’ Herald Sun reported the ad as reading.
Red Bandit had also communicated with Rodgerson who revealed plans to launch new pack of ecstasy known as FK 2.0, the court heard.
The found out that Rodgerson was working with his friend Olczyk who would manufacture the ecstasy in a Moorabbin factory, which was also used as storage space for his building company MPR.
The AFP raided both Olczyk’s and Rodgerson’s homes where they found evidence of the flying kangaroo.
Rodgerson previously denied being involved in the drug gang and explained he was working in IT
They then raided the factory on November 23, 2016 where they seized 200 ecstasy tablets, $15,000 and drug making equipment, and more than 300 grams of pure MDMA which were hidden inside DVD cases in a safe in the factory.
Rodgerson previously denied being involved in the drug gang and explained he was working in IT.
He said those dealing drugs online knew what they were doing and would get a ‘buzz’ from it.
‘I guess they’re committing crimes but, you know, they don’t consider it as a criminal act but you guys do, so — it is what it is,’ he said.
Following his arrest he also refused to give access to his technological devices stating they didn’t need all that information.
Olczyc was jailed nine years and eight months jail after pleading guilty to importing, trafficking and manufacturing MDMA in October last year.
Rodgerson had his bail extended until the matter returns to court on January 27.