British court sent to prison a drug dealer who used cryptocurrency

The court sentenced a resident of the UK to nine years in prison, from whom $6.7 million in cryptocurrencies and $1.4 million worth of drugs were confiscated.

Simon Barclay was arrested in November 2021. How reported Attorney Matthew Bean, Barclay was charged with drug trafficking via the dark web. To hide his identity, the trafficker used several aliases to arrange the delivery of prohibited substances. The merchant was tracked by law enforcement officers who specialize in fighting criminals operating on the Dark Web (DICE).

Having collected the necessary information about the transactions, the special forces transferred it to the regional department for cybercrime of Yorkshire and the Humber. The police, who were watching Barclay on his way to the post office, made the arrest right on the street. During the search, several envelopes with heroin and cocaine were found at the detainee, which, according to the investigation, he was going to send to his clients. During a search of Barclay’s home, police found a cache of $1.4 million in drugs and confiscated $6.7 million in cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. In May, the arrested man admitted his guilt, and the court sentenced him to nine years in prison.

The confiscation of crypto assets was carried out in accordance with the law “On counteracting the legalization of proceeds from criminal activity.” These assets will be placed by law enforcement officers at auction. For the first time, British police sold seized digital assets in 2019. A year later, the Belgian federal government also sold the confiscated bitcoins through the Irish auction house Wilsons Auctions.