UK Dealer With Prosthetic Hands Brought Down in Global Dark Web Sting

James Edmans, 32, was one of Britain’s biggest online magic mushroom dealers. He made over £500,000 growing Koh Samui, Thailand mushrooms from his base in a quiet bungalow and selling them online. His business was exposed by a global police operation. This operation targeted the DarkMarket website.

Edmans was sentenced to nearly seven years in prison in August 2025 for producing and selling Class & B drugs. He also got an extra four years in prison for laundering the proceeds of his crime. His mother also got a suspended sentence for helping him.

The Global Dark Web Market Bust – Where It All Started

DarkMarket went down in January 2021, and that was where everything started tumbling south for Edmans’ operation. German police led the operation. They worked with agencies like the FBI and the UK’s National Crime Agency. The marketplace had over 2,400 drug dealers. It handled more than 320,000 transactions, involving 12,800 Monero and 4,600 bitcoin, which is worth more than €140 million. Police seized its servers, and this gave them a treasure trove of data on vendors and customers.

That data led them to Edmans, who sold drugs under the name SweetGreenUK. Europol shared the intelligence. The UK’s South West Regional Organised Crime Unit (SWROCU) took the lead. “SweetGreenUK was one of a number of vendors we identified,” a detective said.

A Clever Operation and Its Downfall

Edmans did not stop after DarkMarket closed. He moved to other dark web markets. He thought he was safe. He managed his entire operation from his mum’s house. He grew, packaged, and shipped the drugs himself. But police were already watching.

His biggest flop was needing a driver; he couldn’t drive. His mom, Kim, an NHS nurse, acted as his chauffeur. She drove the dude over to the Post Office so he could mail his packages. Plus, she let him turn their bungalow into some kind of HQ for his criminal hustle. This made her an accomplice, and for that court slapped her with a 20-month suspended sentence.

The Police released a video showing Edman’s arrest. In the video, he is seen leaving the bungalow at night, and plain-clothes officers move in. He just dropped to the ground. “Holy shit, I’m fucked,” he mumbled. And he was right.

Inside the home, police found a huge operation. They discovered 113 grow bags. They found dehydrators and fridges full of labeled spores. He had made over 5,000 sales worth over £500,000.

Edmans had shipped several parcels all across Britain, and used crypto to wash his profits before cashing out in pounds. Richard Foster, a cybercrime expert, confirmed the shocking scale of his business. His entire operation was worth a whopping £1.2 million. Over seven years, he grew an estimated 65 kg of mushrooms right from his mum’s house. According to the expert, £303,000 of that came from Bitcoin sales alone.

The police had probably been watching Edmans’ operation silently, connecting the dots and gradually tracing the flow of his crypto. Then later, tailed him physically until they apprehended him while he was going to post new parcels.

The Unusual Prosthetic Hands Tactic

Edmans used a unique method to avoid detection. He pulled off the whole thing wearing some special prosthetic gloves – they looked just like regular hands. This was to conceal his fingerprints during mail runs. It was a clever move to avoid suspicion. Normal gloves might look odd in the summer.

Foster said the tactic was unusual. “It was a clever move I haven’t seen before,” he told VICE. “Prosthetic gloves were less likely to draw attention.” This shows the lengths dealers will go to hide their activities.

The case shows dark web anonymity is fragile. The DarkMarket takedown is still yielding arrests years later. For dealers and customers, it is a stark reminder. Nothing online ever truly disappears. Police are always watching.