This week, Delhi Police accused two people of operating a drug ring, according to the Daily Mail India edition. Using the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, bitcoin, the two were able to purchase 3,635 USD worth of illegal drugs on the dark web. It is claimed such an incident is “probably the first case in India.”
“A DJ, drugs and the Dark Web: Two held as Bitcoin trail leads police to cartel trading ecstasy and MDMA”
Above is the headline used in the online news source’s attempt to link bitcoin to nefarious activity, a favorite among mainstream news organizations around the globe. It might be helpful to analyze how such articles are constructed in an effort to better understand media hysteria masked as public concern.
“This is probably the first case in India,” the report rather boldly claims in a country of over one billion, three hundred million people, “where narcotics were purchased through the secret corner of the virtual world and the payment was made in bitcoins.”
“A payment of Rs 2.36 lakh was made through RTGS to a person who converted the amount into Bitcoin,” the article states. “The drugs were delivered through post as a gift from the Netherlands and allegedly later supplied to” one of the accused…
Read Full: India Drug “Cartel” Uses Bitcoins, Two Arrested: A Closer Look at Mainstream Media Libel
