Scotland Yard seizes record £ 114 million cryptocurrency – Bitcoin News
The UK police carried out the largest crypto seizure in the UK to date. Detectives working on a money laundering case found a staggering £ 114 million worth of cryptocurrencies in a suspect’s account. Scotland Yard promised to continue the investigation.
Britain is making one of the largest crypto seizures in the world
Based on intelligence information about the transfer of criminal funds, specialist detectives confiscated £ 114 million (over $ 158 million) in crypto, the UK’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) said on Thursday. The London area law enforcement agency called the operation the largest cryptocurrency seizure in the UK and one of the largest in the world.
The digital assets were confiscated as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation by the Met’s white-collar crime detachment. Police officers refrained from disclosing any further details, including the type of cryptocurrency that was seized. “Criminals have to legitimize their money or there is a risk that it will be confiscated by law enforcement,” commented Detective Constable Joe Ryan:
Crime proceeds are almost always laundered to hide where they came from, but by disrupting the flow of money before it is reinvested, we can make London an incredibly difficult place for criminals to be.
“Every single part of the Met is working to reduce violence on the streets of London as an absolute priority, including our financial investigators,” said Deputy Assistant Commissioner Graham McNulty. He stressed that there is an inherent link between money and violence. “Violence is used to blackmail, blackmail, break in, control and exploit. It is used to protect criminal profits and maintain control of territories, ”the commissioner explained.
Cash remains king, Scotland Yard admits
Not only are cops trying to disrupt the digital transfer of illegal funds, but they are also robbing criminals of cash, McNulty added. Investigators discovered and confiscated over £ 47 million ($ 65 million) in fiscal 2020-2021. “This money can no longer be reinvested in crime, it cannot be used to buy and sell drugs and weapons, and it cannot be used to seduce and exploit young and vulnerable people into crime,” said the senior Officials stuck.
According to an article in the Daily Mail, Scotland Yard carried out the largest cash seizure ever in May this year when a criminal named “Purse” was caught “struggling to carry bags of money”. More than £ 5 million were discovered piled under mattresses, in closets and on the floor of an apartment in west London, the publication wrote. The cash was hidden by a money laundering gang as they “didn’t know what to do with it” during the UK’s Covid lockdown.
“Cash stays king,” stressed Graham McNulty, but also admitted that the development of technology and online platforms has pushed some criminals to more sophisticated methods of money laundering. The recently seized cryptocurrency is more than double the amount of fiat cash seized by Scotland Yard in the last fiscal year, highlighting a trend of increasing police seizures of crypto in recent years, with the seizure of bitcoins valued at over $ 1 , £ 2 million started in 2019.
What do you think of the recent UK cryptocurrency seizure? Let us know in the comments section below.
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