crimes and misdemeanors

NYPD Reminder: Selling Drugs on Craigslist Is Illegal

An eleven-month NYPD investigation dubbed “Operation Dot Com” has resulted in the arrests of 21 people for selling drugs via the Internet, the police announced today. Undercover officers responded to Craigslist postings — which use super-discreet code words like “420,” “snow,” and “H” — making 63 buys since last December, totaling $19,000 in pills and $10,400 in cocaine, the AP reports. The sellers were mostly small-time dealers, including “a New York University graduate student, a financial adviser, and a 62-year-old woman who works as a freelance photographer.” (I wrote about the Craigslist drug trade last year for the Village Voice.) “Whether the drug deal occurs on the street corner or on the Internet, it’s a crime,” said Bridget Brennan, the city’s special narcotics prosecutor. “You’d have to be living under a rock to not know it’s illegal.” The same goes for not knowing about all the wild stuff available on Craigslist.

NYPD Nailing Craigslist Drug Dealers