Dealers exploit a loophole in La Poste and the CFF

Drug traffickers use platforms like Telegram to conduct their illicit businesses. Thanks to accomplices ready for anything and clever tricks, they manage to deliver their expensive substances to customers.

Henry Habegger / ch media

In June 2020, a woman was arrested by the police in Zurich. According to the indictment, she made drug deliveries for a “Telegram drug ordering and delivery service” in her Alfa Romeo. Inside the vehicle, the police found two small doses of cocaine ready to be distributed, and, at his home, narcotics with an estimated value of 24,000 francs, including cocaine, cannabis, ecstasy, amphetamines and LSD. She planned to distribute them in the Zurich region, while consuming some of them.

After 282 days of detention, the district court sentenced her, in March 2021, to a suspended sentence of 20 months and a fine of 500 francs. He also ordered the destruction of dozens of plastic bags containing the drugs ready for sale.

The woman worked for the network of dealers called “Colombe Vitamine”. This network is part of a Telegram group which facilitates the sale of drugs of all types in Switzerland: cannabis, amphetamines, cocaine, even fentanyl, accessible to all, as revealed by investigations by CH Media (the group to which Watson belongs) .

Couriers recruited by strangers

The Zurich courier received five then ten francs for each “unit” delivered. She collected money from customers and then transferred it in bitcoins to her anonymous backers.

In January 2023, another courier from the “Colombe Vitamine” network was convicted: a young French-speaking entrepreneur in financial difficulty, who delivered narcotics after his working hours. Recruited on Telegram, he earned around 22,000 francs by delivering substances that he received pre-packaged by post, and for which he was paid in cash or bitcoins. Having expressed remorse, he received a two-year suspended sentence and a firm fine of 180 days-fine of 80 francs.

While the small couriers are caught, the main dealers remain in the shadows. The trade prospers, and the quantity of drugs sold in Switzerland, as well as the misery that results from it, continues to grow.

In the spring and summer of 2024, a “Colombe Vitamine” channel offered a “special offer” on Telegram: up to three kilos per customer for 33,000 francs. Large dealers even offered a secure storage and staggered delivery service, for a shipping cost of 50 francs.

Dead mailboxes and machines

On another Telegram channel, an intermediary warns its customers against packages sent from abroad, which could provoke searches in the event of a customs inspection. For those who persist in ordering out of the country, he recommends using an “anonymous address” or “dead mailbox” – a drop-off point known only to the sender and recipient, a popular method by dealers.

The intermediary also advises using postal machines for deliveries. My Post 24 machines indeed seem popular, according to discussions on Telegram, as do CFF ATMs for withdrawing cryptocurrencies.

On these channels, some intermediaries even offer “hacked My Post 24 accounts” so that users can send and receive parcels anonymously.

For the purchase of five accounts at 140 francs each (payable in bitcoins), a 10% reduction is granted, with the possibility of paying in cash during a meeting.

The Post Office has no “awareness” of these activities

La Poste, for its part, declares that it has no “knowledge” of these activities. Are My Post 24 accounts being hacked and used for drug trafficking, as these traffickers claim? “We are not aware of any such activities”replied Stefan Dauner, spokesperson for La Poste, specifying that “My Post 24 machines require registration via SwissID”.

For now, the criminals always seem to be one step ahead. The sponsors and major traffickers remain in the shadows. Only the small links in the chain get caught.

Translated and adapted from German by Tanja Maeder