A former police officer has pleaded guilty to more than 50 drug trafficking and money laundering charges, with a further seven dropped.
Thomas Booker’s charges stem from a dark-web drug syndicate, Underline Cost, which was making $25,000 a day.
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Booker, 27-years-old, pleaded guilty to trafficking large quantities of LSD and cocaine in exchange for seven other further being dropped – 53 in total remained.
In South Australia’s largest cryptocurrency seize, police also froze hundreds of thousands of dollars in Monero and Bitcoin.
Booker is facing considerable time behind bars for running the syndicate from his Adelaide apartment and will lose millions of dollars from the frozen assets.
$466,752 was frozen in Bitcoin, $122,123.42 in Monero, $820,000 in cash seized during police raids, $174,703 in bank accounts, a one-kilogram silver ingot and an extensive collection of luxury alcohol.
Booker and co-accused Erin Gold, Booker’s girlfriend, and Ryan Suri-Tucker will face court in August when it is expected they’ll be committed in the District Court.
Police first begun monitoring Booker when a shipment of 8,000 LSD tablets was intercepted from delivery to an Adelaide address from the Netherlands.
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