B.C. RCMP say a British Columbia man has been indicted on federal charges in the U.S. for allegedly operating an international dark web, drug and money laundering, criminal organization linked to the opioid overdose deaths of two U.S. Navy servicemen.

Describing the dark web as a digital wave of anonymity, the RCMP launched a joint transnational organized crime investigation into a dark web vendor named Canada1. That entity was then linked to Thomas Michael Federuik of West Vancouver, and Paul Anthony Nicholls of Surrey, United Kingdom

In March 2018, Federal Serious and Organized Crime investigators arrested Federuik and Nicholls at a West Vancouver home and seized a large quantity of fentanyl. Investigators say they also discovered mail tracking slips that they say coincided with the fentanyl packaging material found by U.S. authorities.

The U.S. indictment alleges that Federuik and Nicholls conspired to import drugs from China and Hungary, while using the business names East Van Eco Tours, and Bridge City Consulting LLP, to distribute the drugs across the U.S. The indictment further alleges that the fentanyl packaged by the two suspects was shipped from Canada to Georgia, leading to the overdose deaths of the two U.S. servicemen.

Federuik and Nicholls are currently awaiting extradition proceedings to the U.S.

The RCMP say based on a report by the Public Health Agency of Canada, there was a total of 26,690 apparent opioid toxicity deaths between January 2016 and September 2021. The report further noted that the majority of deaths occurred in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, with the toxicity of supply continuing to be a major driver of the crisis.