Huddersfield duo Ross Brennan and Aarron Gledhill made millions selling drugs on the dark web. They used “Chemistry for Dummies”.
The pair used a Chemistry for Dummies book and mixed and sold potent drugs like fentanyl. Fentanyl, linked to many UK deaths, is said to be much stronger than heroin.
Their illegal scheme lasted three years, ending when police discovered a drug production site and equipment for a dark web operation. Brennan and Gledhill made up to £1,000 daily running an online shop called AlphaBay for two years until it was shut down. They bought, mixed, and sold drugs, mailing them across the country.
Drugs came from the USA, Poland, Mexico, Canada, and Holland. During searches of the pair, police found drugs stored in a fridge.
Their illegal business was worth £1.5 million, depending on Bitcoin’s fluctuating value, and was run from a York flat. The pair ignored the risks to customers, with four people buying drugs from them dying; however, police could not directly link the deaths to their site, named Savage Henry.
Brennan told Gledhill in a chat he knew people had died, stating, “There are bodies out there on me.” The pair pleaded guilty in York Crown Court in 2017 to crimes involving drugs and money laundering.
Brennan and Gledhill, both from Huddersfield, admitted to several charges. These included importing and selling Class A drugs, and concealing criminal property.
Ross Brennan masterminded the drug scheme with Gledhill. Brennan lived an extravagant lifestyle and admitted to indecent image charges, distributing such images as well, leading to him being placed on a sex offenders register for ten years.
Brennan was jailed for over 13 years, while Gledhill was jailed for over four years. The judge called Brennan a “21st century criminal”, stating the case was the first of its kind in the UK.
A detective leading the case called Brennan greedy, adding that Brennan knew the potential risks but was too greedy to stop.