A drug dealer who used the dark web to supply customers – including four who died later – with the powerful synthetic opiod fentanyl has been jailed for eight years.
Kyle Enos, 25, of Newport, South Wales, sold the drug to 168 people in the UK, Europe and the US between May 2016 and May 2017.
He used the psedunym “sovietbear” to sell fentanyl online and offered same day delivery to customers around the world, who he urged to leave positive reviews.
Kyle Enos (National Crime Agency/PA)
His customer service was such that he promised to refund or resend for free any packages that were seized by customs.
Officers wore bio-hazard suits and respirators due to the danger of the drug when they searched Enos’s home and arrested him in May 2017.
They went through his database and found four UK customers had died, though it is not possible to say whether their deaths were linked to fentanyl that he supplied.
Materials found at the home of Kyle Enos (National Crime Agency/PA)
Jonathon Robinson, 25, from Northumbria, was found dead at home, while university student Jack Barton, 23, died in Cardiff in January, the court heard.
Aaron Rees, 34, from Ammanford in Carmarthenshire, Wales, was found dead last March. The fourth person, who was not named, died in Scotland.
Enos admitted charges of importing, supplying and exporting fentanyl and was jailed for eight years at Cardiff Crown Court.
A general view of Cardiff Crown Court, Wales (Antony Stone/PA)
Judge Eleri Rees, the Recorder of Cardiff, told him: “It is 25 times more powerful than heroin as is evidenced by the deaths of at least four young people who were your customers.
“None of these deaths can be attributed to fentanyl supplied by you but it is evidence of how dangerous a drug it is.
“You were fully aware of the potency and the high risk involved.
“This was a sophisticated, complex operation in that you supplied fentanyl to over 160 addresses – to the UK, Europe and the US.
“The profits were such that you were able to rent a luxury apartment in Cardiff city centre.
“You were advertising your products and sought customers reviews about them on the dark web.”
Items found at the home of Kyle Enos (National Crime Agency/PA)
Enos imported fentanyl from illegal sellers in China and prepared packets himself, before sending them either first class or via air mail.
Officers have identified a total of 168 customers – 92 in the UK and 78 overseas.
The court heard the amount of fentanyl sold by Enos contained 45 times the estimated lethal dose of fentanyl – the equivalent to more than 25,000 fatal doses.
On his online advert, Enos stated: “We all have varying tolerances. What could give me a nice little high could knock someone on their arse for half a day.
“I sell seriously strong, potent drugs.”
Handwritten note written by Kyle Enos (National Crime Agency/PA)
In April last year – the month before his arrest – Enos attempted to import up to 2kg of fentanyl at a time.
One supplier told Enos: “So much is very dangerous. You are very dangerous”.
Enos replied: “I know it’s very dangerous. I supply a lot of people.”
He also attempted to enlist people to work for him by selling the drug.
The court heard Enos used money from selling fentanyl – estimated by his barrister as £16,000 – to rent a luxury flat in Cardiff.
National Crime Agency image of items found at Kyle Enos’s address (National Crime Agency/PA)
Following his arrest, he contacted suppliers saying that he had been “raided” by the police but wanted to re-start his business.
He also searched online for how to programme computers in prison and how to smuggle phones and drugs inside.
“No cases as serious as this have been reported involving fentanyl,” Nicholas Gareth Jones, prosecuting, said.
“It was a sophisticated operation on a commercial scale.”
Items discovered at the home of Kyle Enos (National Crime Agency/PA)
Enos, who has no previous convictions, hopes to complete a maths degree while in prison, the court heard.
Following the hearing, Colin Williams, operations manager from the National Crime Agency said: “Four people identified from his customer list are known to have since died from fentanyl related deaths, although it cannot be said with certainty that the fentanyl they took was supplied by Enos.
“Kyle Enos was a significant distributor of fentanyl within the UK and overseas.
“He knew exactly how dangerous it was, yet continued to play Russian roulette with the lives of his customers.”
John Davies, from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), said Enos had attempted to disguise his illegal activity by using the dark web.
“The evidence presented by the CPS showed that Enos was well aware of the risks of taking fentanyl as he warned users when advertising the product,” he said.
“Despite this knowledge he continued selling large quantities of the drug and even invited eBay-style reviews from his customers.”