Mantas Kaupas, 35, of Weoley Castle, Birmingham, confessed to buying, manufacturing and selling steroids from February 2018 to February 2019. According to prosecutor Andrew Davidson at Birmingham Crown Court, Kaupas bought “raw materials” which were used to manufacture steroids on the darkweb.

The prosecutor told the court that a suspicious package addressed to the defendant was intercepted by customs officials at Stansted Airport in December 2018. The package included one kilogram of 2,4-Dinitrophenol (DNP), an organic compound used as a weight-loss agent on occasion. Law enforcement secured a search warrant for the home of Kaupas.

Police had executed a search warrant at the residence in February 2019. Inside they found over 100 testosterone vials and over 1,000 unidentified tablets. The police also confiscated Kaupas’ phone and recovered a number of text messages which were incriminating. We heard that at least 23 customers were in Kaupas. Another client, the court heard during the sentencing trial,
spent £ 970 on five Kaupas sold “steroid packets.”

Judge Paul Pfarrer: ““Between February 2018 and February 2019, you were involved in purchasing, producing, and selling anabolic steroids. You produced over that period a relatively large quantity of steroids but I accept you had been using significant quantities yourself. You sourced the raw ingredients to produce these drugs by the Dark Web from countries such as China and India.”

Judge Farrer sentenced Kaupas to 18 months in jail but suspended the term. The lack of priors for Kaupas has led to the lenient sentence, the judge said. The judge also ordered Kaupas to complete 300 hours of community service, in addition to the suspended sentence.