 Subscribe to our news service at HERE 1. What Happened? It seems that the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) is facing a significant challenge in accessing €345 million in Bitcoin seized from Crumlin drug dealer Clifton Collins. The Bitcoin, originally valued at €53 million when seized in 2019, is locked away in 12 digital wallets, with the keys to access them reportedly missing. Collins created 12 wallets for storing the bitcoin and recorded the codes, or digital keys, for each in a document. Collins decided it would be safer to disperse his growing fortune across multiple virtual wallets that hold the cryptocurrency. The Bitcoin was uncovered by the Garda after an operation targeting Collins (in 2019) when it was valued at €53 million. Garda has effectively been sitting on the asset, hoping advances in technology will lead to it being unlocked, it has soared in value to €345 million. Collins – a 53-year-old former beekeeper – grew cannabis crops in rented houses and sold the harvested drug to criminals, including in his native Crumlin. He was apprehended in 2017 after a cannabis growing operation was discovered by chance after years of operating under the radar. Gardaí on a routine patrol spotted a car parked at Military Road near Sally Gap in Co Wicklow in the early hours of the morning and went to check on it. Cannabis herb valued at €2,000 was found in the car, driven by Collins. A subsequent investigation discovered he had been using three rented houses – in Galway, Meath and Longford – to grow cannabis. In the property in Galway, gardaí discovered a crop valued at €400,000 and Collins was later jailed for five years. Eventually the Irish High Court ruled that the Bitcoin was derived from criminal activity. While Collins had handed over some Bitcoin and a code to a portion of his stash, the bulk remains inaccessible due to the lost key, which was hidden in a fishing rod that has since gone missing. Collins 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. The keys for the 12 wallets were written on documents and then hidden 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. Despite the value of the Bitcoin skyrocketing, CAB is hopeful that advances in technology will eventually allow them to unlock the wallets. In the meantime, they have liquidated other assets and sold accessible Bitcoin to benefit the state. Collins remains a significant case for the CAB, marking him as their largest financial loss to date. The outcome of this situation will depend on future technological developments or the recovery of the missing key. Pursuing Bitcoin as the Proceeds of Crime is not new The Chief Bureau Officer of CAB informed Irish media way back in October 2021 that CAB is targeting the seizure of cryptocurrencies, however, the value of cryptoassets can be difficult to realise. Back then Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Gubbins said cryptocurrency plays a part in some of the assets that CAB has seized and while there is a substantial value to the cryptocurrency, "we just don't have the keys to get that". 2. What’s interesting?
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