Gardaí have seized bitcoin, a cryptocurrency, valued at an estimated €30 million, that had been previously inaccessible. The breakthrough was made in an operation by the Criminal Assets Bureau (Cab), supported by Europol.
The seizure is a major development as it is the first time Cab has been able to access any of 12 virtual wallets – containing 6,000 bitcoin valued at €360 million – which were seized seven years ago.
The codes to the virtual wallets were lost, having been stored in a fishing rod case, locking out gardaí. Now, one of the wallets has been opened, raising the prospect all of the bitcoin can now be accessed. This could lead to their sale, which would dwarf the value of assets usually seized and sold by Cab.
Approximately 500 bitcoin was seized during the operation, each valued at about €60,000 under current trading prices.
The Garda issued a brief statement confirming the bitcoin had been seized and accessed in a wallet. However, it did not offer any information about the background of the investigation or the ownership of the bitcoin.
During the operation, Cab was supported by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre.
“The Criminal Assets Bureau in collaboration with Europol gained access to and seized a cryptocurrency wallet containing 500 bitcoins, which are the proceeds of crime,” Garda Headquarters said.
“Europol hosted operational meetings at its headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands and provided critical support to Bureau investigators and analysts with the provision of highly complex technical expertise and decryption resources vital to the success of the operation.”
The Irish Times understands the wallet opened was one of 12 virtual wallets uncovered by the Garda after an operation targeting cannabis cultivator Clifton Collins and seized in 2019, when valued at €53 million.
In the years since, the bureau has effectively been sitting on the asset, hoping advances in technology would lead to the 12 wallets being unlocked. During that period, the value of the seized bitcoin has soared to €360 million.
Collins – a 55-year-old former beekeeper – grew cannabis crops in rented houses and sold the harvested drug to criminals, including in his native Crumlin, Dublin. He was jailed for five years.
He invested some of the proceeds of his drugs business in bitcoin, when it was worth only a fraction of its current value, in 2011 and 2012.
As the virtual currency increased in value, Collins decided it would be safer to disperse his growing fortune across multiple virtual wallets that hold the cryptocurrency. He created 12 wallets for storing the bitcoin and recorded the codes, or digital keys, for each in a document.
He then hid the document in a fishing rod case at one of his rented properties in Co Galway. In interviews with gardaí he claimed he never saw the case again after a break-in at his home. However, a clear-out of the property after his arrest may also have resulted in the loss of the document.
In late 2020, Collins surrendered assets worth €1.2 million to the State as they were the proceeds of crime. They included €1 million in bitcoin, which he had the key codes for, as well as a two-seater Gyro aircraft, a camper van and a fishing boat.