text: Peter Ward, 54 of Barnstaple in Devon and Richard Hiley, 30 of Tividale in the West Midlands were sentenced at Birmingham Crown Court on Monday.
  Ward was given five years and two months, Hiley five years.
  The pair pleaded guilty to possession, supply and importation of Class A and Class B drugs.
  Peter Ward was known online as PlutoPete. His business specialised in supplying military-grade foil packaging that claimed to hide illegal materials from detection.
  He also provided new psychoactive substances, commonly known as legal highs.
  He was arrested by National Crime Agency officers in Barnstaple in October 2013 following an international operation targeting prominent vendors on dark web marketplaces like Silk Road.
  Officers searched Ward's rural home and found class A and B drugs and numerous computers.
  Analysis uncovered his close working with an ex-customer, Richard Hiley, who was commissioned by Ward to convert bitcoins into cash.
  In December 2013, NCA officers raided Hiley's address in the West Midlands after financial records seized from Ward identified large scale transactions between the pair.
  Hiley also pleaded guilty to two counts of importing a prohibited weapon after he imported five stun guns. He said they were for personal protection.
  NCA Branch Commander, Ian Glover, said: "Criminals and their customers like to think that dark web market places provide an anonymous haven.
  "The reality is that law enforcement works together internationally to identify and pursue these people."
  Source: US Department of Justice
target: A major vendor on the illegal Silk Road website and his business partner, were sentenced to five years in prison for drugs offences.