Man who sold diet pills made from poison jailed
Kyle Enos, 33, had only been out of prison for a few months for selling fentanyl online when he bought the drug 2, 4 Dinotrophenol, or DNP, on the dark web from suppliers in India and China.
He pressed it into pills in his bedroom in Maesteg, Bridgend.
Cardiff Crown Court heard DNP is a regulated substance classed as both a poison and a secondary explosive that has caused at least 34 deaths in the UK.
Judge Simon Mills told Enos his website gave the impression that the tablets were produced in "some sort of professional laboratory by people in white coats and qualifications and expertise".
Officers raided Enos' property on Station Road in Maesteg on 25 July 2024 and found 2.5kg of orange powder and a machine used to press it into pill form.
Enos admitted a total of eight charges at Cardiff Magistrates Court including possessing 2, 4 DNP, supplying the drug and supplying a regulated poison.
He had also admitted five charges of failing to comply with a Serious Crime Prevention Order (SCPO) handed to him following his fentanyl convictions.
In 2018 he was sentenced to eight years in prison for supplying "significant amounts" of the opioid, fentanyl to a total of 166 contacts.
Four of those contacts, including Jack Barton, 23, a Cardiff University student, and Arran Rees, 34, from Ammanford, Carmarthenshire, died.
No charges were brought in relation to their deaths as it could not be said with certainty Enos had supplied the fentanyl.
Having served some of his eight-year sentence, he was released on licence, in 2021, but was recalled to prison in June 2022, before being released again in August 2022.
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Under the terms of his SCPO he was not allowed to sell products online or in a virtual marketplace; he was not allowed to access the dark web and had to notify a National Crime Agency (NCA) officer about possessing mobile phones and laptops and creating his own internet page.
Enos pleaded guilty to five failures to comply with his SCPO having used a laptop to access the dark web to set up a Proton email account with end-to-end encryption and creating up a website selling DNT.
The court was shown screengrabs of his online marketplace which included suggestions of products customers "may also like" giving the impression of it being a legitimate pharmacy.
He took payment for the drugs by bank transfer, bitcoin and other cryptocurrency from customers around the world, including as far away as New Zealand.
Enos has refused access to police to some of his devices.
DNP is the drug which led to the death of Eloise Parry, 21, at hospital in Wrexham, in 2015.
The Glyndwr University student, died after taking eight capsules.
In bodycam footage shown to the court the powder can be seen in a washing up bowl on his bedroom floor next to an empty pizza box.
Underwear can also be seen next to his bed by the pill press machine and another washing up bowl filled with pills.
Judge Simon Mills said he wanted the footage to be released to the media for members of the public to be made aware of the unsanitary conditions in which the pills were made.
"You were selling poison to the general public," said Judge Mills.
"Your pharmacy was in fact your house or flat and you were preparing and pressing the pills you were selling to the general public on a filthy piece of equipment amongst training shoes and discarded underwear."
He was sentenced to a total of 36 months in prison.
"You have a propensity for selling dangerous substances to people," said Judge Mills, adding: "This is a habit that you must stop."
"The court doesn't know the full extent of the harm that you did by peddling this horrendous substance.
"If any of your product is still out there in the community and it can be shown to have killed someone, you should face an investigation for manslaughter, but hopefully that will not happen."
A Proceeds of Crime Act hearing will be held later this year.
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