He used to receive the drugs through international couriers, the NCB source said. Prior to the Ketamelon bust, the NCB in 2023 dismantled the country’s largest LSD cartel at the time—Zambada. That operation led to the seizure of 29,013 LSD blots, 472 grams of MDMA, ₹51.38 lakh in cash, and the arrest of 14 individuals. The cartel operated from Delhi NCR and had a consistent 5-star rating on the darknet.
He sourced LSD from a UK-based vendor known as “Gunga Din” and sold it across India using international and domestic couriers. Over the span of 14 months, the syndicate shipped around 600 parcels to cities like Bengaluru, Chennai, Patna, Bhopal, Delhi, and parts of Himachal Pradesh. “Zambada intended to open an Indian outlet of Dr. Seuss wherein he would have maintained a minimum stock of 1 lakh LSD blots. Monero is a privacy-centric crypto designed to mask transaction details, making it a preferred payment method for darknet drug dealers and cybercriminals.
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Imagine trusting a site where you’ve been buying or selling for months, and everything seems legit. Some marketplace operators first build trust by running a legitimate platform. If you take a quick look through darknet marketplaces, you’ll instantly notice an overwhelming supply of pirated content.
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The estimated street value of the seized drugs is approximately 35.12 lakhs, with LSD blots priced at 2,500-4,000 each. The highlight of the operation was the coordination with foreign drug liaison officers, and excellent coordination among various zonal units of the NCB and State police forces for simultaneous operations, the sources said. National Disaster Response Force divers were also used for retrieving crucial evidence from deep waters.
The agency launched an operation codenamed ‘Melon’ to investigate it after getting primary inputs from the Cochin seizure,” the NCB said in a statement. “This was (Ketamelon) one of India’s most prolific darknet drugs syndicates. The agency launched an operation codenamed ‘Melon’ to investigate it after getting primary inputs from the Cochin seizure,” the NCB said in a statement. The Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) has busted a top darknet-based drug vendor named ‘Ketamelon’, which had been operating for the past two years. The vendor had established a wide network for shipping Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) to major cities, including Bengaluru, Chennai, Bhopal, Patna, and Delhi, as well as in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
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From there, these products are then passed on to distributors, which are the dark web marketplaces in this context. On these marketplaces, they’re listed, sold, and promoted just like items on any e-commerce site. Just like on the regular internet, phishing is a big problem on the dark web as well. Fraudsters create fake versions of popular darknet sites to trick users into entering login details or personal data. If you fall for it and log in, they immediately steal your credentials and either sell or use them for other scams. Many people go to the dark web to buy things they can’t find elsewhere, but what if what you’re buying is also trying to harm you?
Delhi: NCB Dismantles India’s Most Prolific Darknet Drug Syndicate Ketamelon
There’s also a privacy angle—some users live in countries with censorship or surveillance, and the dark web gives them a space to communicate or access information more freely. Ransomware and cryptocurrency-based crimes saw a significant increase in 2023, with a nearly $176 million rise compared to 2022. The second category consists of data stores, which specialize in stolen information. In 2023, the dark web attracted an average of 2.7 million daily users, with Germany now leading as the country with the highest number of Tor users, surpassing the United States for the first time in years. “This seizure highlights the deep web’s evolving threat and the NCB’s enhanced cyber and financial surveillance capabilities,” the officer said. Operating through encrypted channels, the Ketamelon network had delivered over 600 shipments to cities across India, including Bangalore, Chennai, Delhi, Bhopal, Patna, remote regions of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
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The name of this particular syndicate is derived from the vendor’s early involvement in Ketamine smuggling, as per the agency. As dark web crimes grow in scale and complexity, experts warn that India needs to invest more in digital forensics, inter-agency coordination, and public awareness campaigns to keep the internet safe. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles.
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Security researchers have been monitoring forums within the cybercriminal underworld to investigate the leading markets operating in 2024. Some fake sellers take your crypto and never ship what you ordered, or phishing sites that look like real marketplaces but steal your login info. And then there’s malware—click the wrong link or download the wrong file, and your device could get infected. Darknet drug vendors are ranked from 1 to 5 stars based on the potency of drugs sold and customer satisfaction, similar to e-commerce platforms.
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‘Zambada’ intended to open an Indian ‘outlet’ of Dr Seuss with a minimum stock of one lakh LSD blots. It has ‘outlets’ in the UK, USA, South Africa, Canada, Russia, Spain, Portugal, Greece and Turkey, according to DDG Singh. “The cartel was being operated by young educated men in the age bracket of years,” he said. Over the recent years, we have witnessed a steady increase in cyber incidents. A virtual phone system enables you to turn your phone into a powerful tool for both personal and bus… Then, you can set up 2FA (two-factor authentication) for that extra touch of security in case someone somehow figures out your password.
- Zambada was known for having a rare 5-star vendor rating in India and was reportedly in coordination with Dr Seuss to expand operations.
- Edison, who had earlier worked in Bengaluru and Pune before returning to his hometown, reportedly turned to the dark web two years ago after facing financial struggles.
- The name derives from the vendor’s early involvement in Ketamine smuggling.
- The NCB’s investigation began after intercepting 280 LSD blots from three postal parcels in Cochin on June 28, 2025.
- Once you unknowingly install the spyware or ransomware, they can steal your identity or even hijack your crypto wallet.
A lot of vendors from all over the world are registered here, offering an extensive range of products, including digital services, security tools, and other equipment. For those who are looking for a reliable Alphabay Market alternative, Awazon Market aspires to become the solution. Unlike regular e-commerce sites, markets on the dark web often deal with illegal or highly restricted goods and services, such as fake documents, hard drugs, and hacking services. Sure, you might come across listings for legit products like handcrafted jewelry or digital art, but those are few and far between. Although these marketplaces are continuously shut down by law enforcement agencies, they still work today. Interestingly, new sites get more hype, and it even becomes difficult to shut them down, as they have better security than the older ones.
What Is Ketamelon?
However, the data does not specify the exact number of cases that were exclusively related to the darknet or cryptocurrency. LSD is an odourless, colourless and tasteless drug and the person consuming it can lose the sense of time, distance and space, the agency said. The NCB’s investigation began after intercepting 280 LSD blots from three postal parcels in Cochin on June 28, 2025.
There is no need to visit darknet marketplaces yourself to know whether your data was leaked. If you think the Dark web marketplaces are just online shops, you’re wrong — these sites are the actual weapon stores for criminals. They provide criminals with access to everything they need, from launching attacks to stealing data, etc.
