Irish authorities seize 500 Bitcoin, total 1,500 BTC

Irish authorities have seized another 500 Bitcoin, valued at approximately 27 million euros, from a cache of cryptocurrency linked to a convicted drug trafficker. The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) confirmed the action on Thursday, July 2, 2026, marking the third such recovery this year and bringing the total seized in the case to 1,500 Bitcoin, worth over 92 million euros.

The operation was conducted with support from Europol's European Cybercrime Centre, which provided operational coordination and complex technical expertise, including decryption resources, to help investigators access the funds. While CAB did not publicly name the wallet owner, the seizure is widely understood to be connected to the assets of Clifton Collins, a man convicted in 2017 for cannabis cultivation and trafficking.

Collins purchased roughly 6,000 Bitcoin in late 2011 and early 2012, when the cryptocurrency traded for just a few dollars per coin. He reportedly split the holdings across twelve separate wallets, each containing 500 Bitcoin. The private keys needed to access the funds were printed on a sheet of paper and hidden inside a fishing rod case at a rented property in County Galway. Following...