“My priority is your satisfaction … we’ll find the perfect, custom concentration for you”

6 Feb 2018 11:52 AM

A 25-year old man from Gwent, who boasted he could arrange for a highly toxic synthetic opioid to be shipped anywhere in the world the same day as receiving an order, has been jailed for eight years.

Kyle Enos, from Maindee Parade, Newport used the dark web to advertise his business of selling bespoke packages of fentanyl - which is approximately 50 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine - to customers both in the UK and overseas.

He ordered varying amounts of fentanyl from illegal distributors in China and once they arrived, he would prepare the packages for his customers and post them out via first class or air mail. Such was his customer service, Enos also promised that if any packages were seized by customs, he would refund them or “re-ship the order again completely free”.

Officers calculate the amount of fentanyl Enos sold contained 45 times the estimated lethal dose of fentanyl - the equivalent to over 25,800 fatal doses.

Clearly aware of the dangers associated to fentanyl, he issued a warning on his online advert stating “we all have varying tolerances; what could give me a nice little high could knock someone on their a**e for half a day”. He also wrote handwritten notes on the packages he sent out. However, this did not stop him trying to purchase higher amounts from China.

Investigators found conversations with his counterparts where he was trying to order up to two kilos of fentanyl at a time, only to be told ”so much is very dangerous … “you are very dangerous”.

National Crime Agency officers, with support from Gwent Police, arrested Enos at his home address in May 2017. His house was searched and numerous items consistent with the preparation and packaging of drugs, as well as several packages of fentanyl were seized.

Such is its potency, officers had to wear bio-hazard suits and respirators when they searched his house.

In August 2017, Enos pleaded guilty to importing, supplying and exporting class A drugs to various outlets in the UK, USA and Canada between May 2016 and May 2017. He was jailed yesterday at Cardiff Crown Court.

Sentencing him, judge Eleri Rees said:

"This was a sophisticated and commercial operation. You had a leading role in this enterprise. It is clear you were trying to recruit and expand."

Colin Williams, Operations Manager from the National Crime Agency said:

“The enquiries we have made into his drug distribution have identified 168 customers – 92 in the UK and 76 overseas. Four people identified from his customer list are known to have since died from fentanyl related deaths, although it cannot be said with certainty the fentanyl they took was supplied by Enos.

“Kyle Enos was a significant distributor of fentanyl within the UK and overseas. He knew exactly how dangerous it was, yet continued to play Russian roulette with the lives of his customers.

“We believe the action we have taken, with our law enforcement partners, has had a direct impact on the availability of fentanyl in the UK, but we are not naive to think the threat from synthetic opioids has gone. The NCA have a number of ongoing fentanyl related investigations and we will keep targeting the source of the threat and take the most appropriate action.

John Davies from the Crown Prosecution Service, said:

“Kyle Enos created an online business importing and selling potentially lethal doses of fentanyl on an international scale.

“The evidence presented by the CPS showed that Enos was well aware of the risks of taking fentanyl as he warned users when advertising the product. Despite this knowledge he continued selling large quantities of the drug and even invited eBay-style reviews from his customers.

“Enos attempted to disguise his activities by using the Dark Web but investigators were able to gather evidence of his online conversations with suppliers to support the prosecution.”