Four men have been taken into custody by federal authorities for purportedly running an illicit drug distribution network from the depths of the internet, as announced by the Justice Department. The suspects, identified as Davit Avalyan, Hrant Gevorgyan, Hayk Grigoryan, and Gurgen Nersesyan, hail from Glendale and the San Fernando Valley and are collectively facing charges for conspiring to peddle a cocktail of narcotics, including cocaine, methamphetamine, MDMA, and ketamine, through various darknet marketplaces.
These arrests form the most recent surge in the war against darknet-based drug trade conducted through the JCODE initiative, a coalition of forces aiming to dismantle those veiled actors who fuel the nation's addiction. The indictment, which was returned by a federal grand jury on April 1, reveals a two-year saga spanning from September 2018 to February 2025 and involving over 116 overt acts designed to further their alleged drug ring. The operation reached out across 17 different markets under names as innocuous and as varied as JoyInc, to LaFarmacia, and PlanetHollywood, each creating the facade of legitimacy while lurking beneath the surface was the flow of illegal substances.
According to the official statement from the Justice Department, the accused effectively masked their criminal endeavors behind the cryptic veil of cryptocurrency and used the United States Postal Service to disperse their noxious wares across the country. With charges laid out against each individual, they range from possession with intent to distribute to direct distribution of the aforementioned drugs; Avalyan even faces three separate counts of distribution.
The quartet's plea of not guilty was recorded during their arraignment last Wednesday, and they are set to stand trial on June 3, amidst the overarching narrative of Operation Take Back America.
