A CORONER issued a warning about the dangers the internet drugs trade after a teenager was able to buy tranquilisers 1,000 times more potent than morphine to take his own life.

West Sussex assistant coroner Christopher Wilkinson issued the warning about how easily youngsters can access illicit drugs on the internet following the death of bright student and keen badminton player Abu Ali, 19, of Grove Road, Worthing.

Abu took an overdose of the drug carfentanil having secretly bought it with the internet currency Bitcoins on the hidden illicit side of the internet.

His younger brother found him dead and notes saying he had taken the illicit substance - sparking a biohazard response from emergency services as the chemical, which is intended to be used as an anaesthetic for elephants.

At an inquest into Abu's death Mr Wilkinson said: "Police made significant enquiries into how he came across this drug which is not very easily available.

"All suggestions are that he bought it on the dark web, which in itself is concerning to me.

"It's potency is 1,000 times more strong than morphine and it can be absorbed through the skin, that was the reason they had to proceed on the basis that it was a hazardous material.

"Clearly he had made it absolutely clear to everyone that that is what he had used in order to protect everyone else.

"Abu was caring and considerate to the end.

"I am concerned about the availability of illicit drugs, particularly through the dark web. Sadly I'm at a loss as to how to prevent that."

Abu would often buy sports clothing online and told his younger brother not to open the packages in the days before his death on August 29, last year.

His brother had heard him playing xBox on the evening of August 28, but at midday the next day he went to wake his brother and found him dead.

When police arrived they found a suicide note saying what he had taken and Abu's body had to be removed from the house in a biohazard bag to prevent anyone else being infected.

The inquest was told Brighton-born Abu and his brother had been taken into foster care when they were aged four and two and that Abu had suffered severe trauma in his early years that continued to cause him anxiety and issues over self-image.

He had achieved good A-level results and had been preparing to go to university to study sports science, but kept his anguish in the run up to his death hidden from his family.

His foster-mother Valerie Fryer said: "Clearly he had planned it and kept it from us and carried on as normal because he didnt want to be stopped."

At the inquest in Worthing the coroner recorded a verdict of suicide.