A Queens-based drug ring promised “STEALTH” as they shipped 10,000 drug packages. Now, five people face drug charges, prosecutors said.
A massive bust took down a New York City-based dark web drug ring that laundered $7.2 million by cryptocurrency and shipped more than 10,000 narcotics-filled packages across the nation, prosecutors said.
An indictment unsealed Friday in Manhattan court accused Nan Wu, 35, of Queen, and four others of being behind FireBunnyUSA — an drug marketplace that billed itself online as an “old vendor with the best in QUALITY SPEED OF DELIVERY and STEALTH,” authorities said.
The ring came crashing down after investigators made a spate of undercover purchases online, said Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.
“This alleged scheme was a brazen attempt to use the dark web to conceal a national drug trafficking operation,” Bragg said in a statement. “Even though this activity originated on the dark web, it can still lead to the same dangerous drug-related violence in our neighborhoods that we see far too often.”
FireBunny started in Flushing, from which Wu is accused of shipping more than 10,000 drug packages before shifting some operations to California, prosecutors said.
From 2019 to 2022, FireBunny sent out packages of cocaine, Ketamine, MDMA and other illegal drugs to all 50 states and Washington, D.C., authorities said.
Investigators based in Manhattan made 11 undercover online drug buys between June 2021 and August 2022, prosecutors said.
One purchase for $2,800 snagged 60 grams of cocaine, according to a release.
Wu held a Flushing apartment with Peng Peng Tang, 30, who helped set up cross-country travel, rentals and financial transactions, prosecutors said. Authorities arrested Wu during a July 2022 raid at the apartment and found drugs and other evidence, according to a release.
Communications uncovered in searches led to a United States Postal Service employee — Katie Montgomery, of Portland, Maine — who helped give them advice on shipping drugs and looked up packages to see if they were “flagged,” prosecutors said.
Investigators also found a trail of cryptocurrency transactions used to laundry drug money, authorities said.
All five people face felony charges in connection to the accusations, ranging from operating as a major trafficker to conspiracy.