Pair jailed for their roles in a ‘new era of drug dealing’

A bitcoin trader and a film technician have been jailed for running an online global operation described as “a new era in drug dealing”.

Neil Mannion and Richard O’Connor, both aged 34, were charged with possessing drugs worth €143,000 following a Garda raid on a business premises in south Dublin in October 2014.

Detective Sergeant Brian Roberts compared the operation of selling drugs on the “dark net” to eBay or Amazon, saying: “It’s a new phenomenon that’s growing and ultimately the modern era of drug dealing.”