Specialized investigators investigating a tip on criminal assets have uncovered a surprising amount of cryptocurrency laundered in the UK. The staggering profits of a crime network discovered by Economic Crime Command detectives represent one of the largest cryptocurrency hijackings in the world.
Last night, details of the colossal money laundering operation were kept secret as agents try to track down those responsible. But Scotland Yard has promised that investigations by specialized financial investigators will continue until the perpetrators are brought to justice.
The amount captured is more than 20 times the amount of money seized from criminals by the force in the last financial year. Assistant Deputy Commissioner Graham McNulty said of the famous Bitcoin seizure: “Every single part of the Met is working to reduce violence on the streets of London as a top priority, including our financial investigators. There is an intrinsic link between money and violence ”.
In May of this year, police announced they had carried out the largest money seizure ever after a criminal dubbed "money bags" was spotted struggling to carry duffel bags full of money.
More than £ 5 million was discovered tucked under mattresses, in closets and stacked on the floor of a west London apartment that a money laundering gang had stored because they "didn't know what to do with it" during the lockdown.
By comparison, the latest bitcoin seizure is said to have stunned detectives. Unlike conventional currency, Bitcoin largely exists online. Bitcoins (quotation BTC) are created through a complex process known as mining and then monitored by a network of computers around the world.
The cryptocurrency has proved popular with criminals for buying drugs and weapons as it can be traded anonymously and is unregulated. In recent years, police seizures of cryptocurrencies have increased. The Surrey Police were the first force in 2019 to capture more than £ 1,2 million worth of Bitcoin from a senior member of an organized crime gang.
Serejgs Teresko, was jailed for nine years for money laundering and drug offenses related to a large cannabis factory in Virginia Water.
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