Gaston Sanchez
08/17/2021 7:00 AM
Clarín.com
International
Updated 08/17/2021 7:00 AM
From his bedroom in his family's home in the Leipzig neighborhood, a German teenager in his
early 18s
ran a
drug
emporium for almost 15 months
.
But unlike anything known so far, he used only a computer and his computer skills.
Thus,
Maximilian Schmidt
, a young man whose only work experience had been working as a waiter for a short time, set up a profitable
drug trafficking
business
, became a millionaire, and was wanted by the authorities for months.
When they found him, they couldn't believe that he was just behind it all.
Over time the story had its own fictional series,
Netflix
was responsible for launching "How to sell drugs online (fast)", which already has three seasons.
The creators were based on the Schmidt story.
But the success was so great that at the beginning of August of this year they released a documentary about the young man and his story, with unpublished interviews and archive material.
The documentary made by Netflix recounts the rise and fall of the cybernark teenager.
The documentary
"
Shiny Flakes: The Teenage Drug Lord
". The
film
reconstructs history from its beginnings. A young man who could not find a place in the world and began, through computers, to find a space where he could be valued. The documentary also continues his rapid learning, almost like a game, in the criminal world.
"At first it made me nervous," says Schmidt, recalling that he was afraid that the police would find him and break into his home. The German director and writer, Eva Müller, shared several years of filming with the young offender. The documentary team released on August 3 of this year recreated his childhood bedroom, furniture, desk and clothes, in painstaking work to achieve greater realism.
This way they ensured that Maximilian recreated scenes that happened in his day to day
drug traffic
, for example, chatting with fictitious suppliers, or packaging
pink
pills
that resembled the
drugs
he distributed.
The
film
also sees interviews with his defense attorney, the prison warden, the prosecutor, and Schmidt's psychiatrist.
The young German created "Shiny Flakes", a site for the online purchase and sale of drugs that worked with cryptocurrencies.
A walk through the deep web
But how did a young teenager who had never had contact with drugs end up being the most wanted drug dealer in Germany?
In December 2013, still 18 years old,
Maximilian Schmidt
had the idea of setting up an online drug sales site that was the most efficient and offered the best product, after chatting with a friend of his who frequented the
dark web
.
He had accessed the "
deep internet
" through the encryption network known as Tor, and there he realized that the busy site
The Silk Road
was frequent for the supply of drugs of all type.
With this trigger, and wanting to improve it and make it more competent, he began to work.
Within a few weeks he had his site finished.
It was called "
Shiny Flakes
", a place where you could easily buy drugs with
bitcoins
being sent home.
The page even had a catalog to rate the quality of the products.
An Amazon, but on drugs.
The teenager who revolutionized the marketing of narcotics through the internet from his parents' home.
"Shiny Flakes"
Thus, the young German teenager with a scrawny build, who did little physical exercise and had a clear
antisocial profile
, took his first step from his childhood bedroom to become a
drug dealer
.
The drug empire he built offered everything: hashish, cocaine, ecstasy, LSD, and even prescription drugs.
He was selling them now, although he had never tried any.
By Christmas 2013 it was already marketing its products throughout
Leipzig
.
His parents never entered his room, so he never had to hide or explain.
His family, oblivious to the netizen's activities, never suspected anything.
The online store "
Shining Flakes
" was open for fifteen months
.
The products began to become international over time and even reached from the old continent to America and Oceania.
"I had an order from Colombia," says Schmidt.
And while smiling, he adds in a sarcastic tone: "I thought they already had enough drugs in there."
The young man used the German mail service to send the drugs to his clients' homes.
A novel system
But the initial ignorance on the subject of
drugs
did not matter much.
Since he was a very
organized
, structured,
perfectionist
and with extensive knowledge in the field of
computing
.
Which allowed him to generate many difficulties for the Police when investigating him.
The online buying and selling system was almost perfect.
It was paid in advance (in bitcoins) and then received at your home address.
The web had a system of
qualification
of
products
, as if you were sailing in a shoe store or sporting goods, but in this case were illegal products.
On the other hand, the
shipping
system
was sophisticated.
Schmidt also innovated on this point.
Since he used the
German
postal
network to deliver his drugs.
That is, you used a legal method to distribute illegal products.
The postmen were their messengers and they didn't know it.
Thus, the young man could send his articles to everyone.
The fall
The funny thing is that he never had a life of luxury and did not waste his money on
yachts
,
trips
,
mansions
or
imported cars
as any other drug dealer would.
In February 2015, he was arrested in his bedroom, the same one where everything was born.
The Police began to investigate it after some orders did not reach their original addressee, who took the packages, contacted the authorities and thus managed to find him.
After arresting him, they seized 320 kilos of drugs for an approximate value of four million
of euros.
Schmidt was sentenced to
seven years
in
prison
to serve in a juvenile center, although he was released at the age of four, in 2019 with
probation
.
According to the documentary, he is being investigated again for the sale of illegal narcotics, although this time within an organization that worked in the Leipzig neighborhood.
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