Irish authorities said they have gained access to one Bitcoin wallet tied to convicted drug dealer Clifton Collins, years after the recovery phrase was believed lost.
Summary
- Irish authorities accessed a lost Bitcoin wallet tied to Clifton Collins with Europol’s technical support.
- The seized wallet held 500 Bitcoin and formed part of Collins’ larger 6,000 Bitcoin stash.
- Blockchain data showed the recovered wallet moved funds to Coinbase Prime after years of silence.
The wallet held 500 Bitcoin, and the seizure followed support from Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre.
Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau said on Tuesday that it had “gained access to and seized a cryptocurrency wallet” linked to an earlier criminal case. The bureau said the wallet contained 500 Bitcoin, valued at more than $35 million at current market prices.
The agency said Europol supported the operation through meetings in The Hague and by providing technical help. CAB said Europol offered “highly complex technical expertise and decryption resources vital to the success of the operation.” Authorities did not explain how they gained access to the wallet.
The Irish Times reported that the recovered wallet was one of 12 wallets once linked to Collins. Those wallets reportedly held a combined 6,000 Bitcoin bought in late 2011 and early 2012 using proceeds from a cannabis operation.
According to earlier reports, Collins stored the wallet keys on a single sheet of A4 paper. He hid that paper inside the aluminum cap of a fishing rod case kept at his rented home. The paper later went missing, and access to the Bitcoin was widely believed to be gone.
Moreover, blockchain intelligence platform Arkham labeled one wallet “Clifton Collins: Lost Keys.” On Tuesday, that wallet moved 500 Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime, more than a decade after the coins were first deposited.
Arkham also lists Collins as controlling 14 addresses with total holdings of about 5,500 Bitcoin. Based on current prices, those holdings are worth more than $391 million. Cointelegraph said it contacted CAB and An Garda Síochána for more details on the recovery.
Case dates back to Collins arrest in 2017
The Guardian reported that police arrested Collins in 2017 after searching his car and finding cannabis. He was later sentenced to five years in prison for growing and selling the drug.
After the arrest, Collins said the fishing rod case had been stolen before his landlord cleared out the rental property. Authorities, however, later lost access to the wallets after the printed codes disappeared. The newly seized 500 Bitcoin wallet now marks a rare case where law enforcement recovered access to funds once thought unreachable.
