Australian extradited to U.S. in Silk Road online drugs bazaar case

By Byron Kaye SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia has extradited a man to the United States to face trial for alleged involvement in Silk Road, a website where people bought illegal drugs like heroin using digital currency bitcoin, a government official said on Thursday. Peter Phillip Nash, 41, from Queensland, and two other men were charged with conspiracy to engage in narcotics trafficking, computer hacking and money laundering in relation to the website in December. "I confirm that Peter Nash was surrendered to the United States pursuant to a request for his extradition," a spokeswoman for the Attorney General's Department told Reuters, without specifying when Nash left or when he would face trial. "The United States sought Mr Nash's extradition for prosecution for conspiracy to traffic narcotics, conspiracy to commit computer hacking and conspiracy to commit money laundering." The two other accused, aged 24 and 25, were arrested in the United States and Ireland and were administrators for the website, while Nash was a primary moderator, the U.S. indictment, made public in December, said. The charges followed the arrest in October 2013 of alleged Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, who is known online as "Dread Pirate Roberts and who faces trial in January. The U.S. indictment said Nash and the two younger men were part of Ulbricht's "small support staff" for Silk Road with salaries ranging from $50,000 to $75,000 a year. (Editing by Nick Macfie)