Former police chief Yuri Zaitsev was recently sentenced to eight years in prison for acting as a bounty hunter for a dark web marketplace. In December 2018, Zaitsev was working as the leader of his unit within the Main Directorate for Drugs Control of the Republic of Khakassia — a law enforcement division analogous to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA. At that time, he initiated contact with the operator of a darknet marketplace, offering to help hunt down a man who had appropriated drugs that were entrusted to him for placement in dead drops.
In Russia, unlike the U.S., most dark web entrepreneurs do not trust the post office for shipments. The prevailing mode of dissemination of these illegal products is instead completed through dead drops — a method of delivery by which two parties can pass items or information back and forth without ever needing to meet in person.