Ten charged in online drug raid

[BlueMystic]

http://australianit.news.com.au/articles/0,7204,16011653^261 99^^nbv^15306-15319,00.html


Ten charged in online drug raid
Correspondents in Rio de Janeiro
JULY 22, 2005

BRAZILIAN police arrested 10 people accused of selling drugs using Google's international social networking site Orkut, which is hugely popular in the Latin American country.

"We discovered the drug ring first via authorised phone tapping, and later the investigation included monitoring of their activities on the internet," a duty officer at the Drugs Enforcement Service near Rio de Janeiro said.

The officer, who declined to be named, said most of those accused were detained in Niteroi, others in Rio and one in the resort town of Buzios.

"We've nabbed 10 so far, but there may be more," he said.

Police allege ring members distributed ecstasy and marijuana across the social networking site.

Orkut allows members to join and set up online communities to discuss everything from doughnuts to quantum physics and schedule events such as community meetings.

Narcotics are also discussed, with some groups advocating drug legalisation. However, most popular Portuguese-language communities touching on the issue are anti-drug groups.

Several million Brazilians have become devotees of Orkut since web search leader Google launched the popular social-networking site in January 2004. They make up more than half of Orkut's 7 million plus members.

Part of Orkut's allure is its exclusivity - one can only join at the invitation of another member. The site is named after Google software engineer Orkut Buyukkokten.