Ireland’s national police have regained access to one of 12 Bitcoin wallets tied to a convicted drug dealer, years after authorities believed the passwords were lost for good.
The country’s Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) said Tuesday it had successfully accessed and seized a cryptocurrency wallet holding 500 Bitcoin (BTC), worth over $35 million, with assistance from Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre.
“Europol hosted operational meetings at its headquarters in The Hague and provided critical support to CAB investigators and analysts, including highly complex technical expertise and decryption resources essential to the operation’s success,” the agency said.
According to The Irish Times, the wallet is one of 12 that together hold around 6,000 Bitcoin previously owned by Clifton Collins, who was sentenced to five years in prison for cultivating and selling cannabis. Authorities had long believed the access codes were lost after the paper they were written on went missing.
In most cases, losing a Bitcoin private key means the funds are gone for good, as there’s no practical way to recover or break into a wallet protected by public-key cryptography.
Wallet tied to Collins moves 500 BTC
A wallet identified by blockchain analytics firm Arkham as “Clifton Collins: Lost Keys” transferred 500 Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime on Tuesday—marking its first movement in over a decade.
Arkham data shows Collins is linked to 14 addresses holding a combined 5,500 Bitcoin, worth more than $391 million.
Clifton Collins was arrested in 2017 after police searched his car and discovered a quantity of cannabis, according to The Guardian.
Authorities said he used profits from his drug operation to buy around 6,000 Bitcoin between late 2011 and early 2012, distributing the funds across 12 separate wallets. He reportedly kept the private keys on a single A4 sheet of paper, concealed inside the aluminum cap of a fishing rod case at his rented home.
Following his arrest and conviction, Collins’ landlord cleared out the property and disposed of his belongings. Collins later claimed the fishing rod case had been stolen before the landlord entered the home.
