The Irish Criminal Assets Bureau seized an additional 500 BTC in the Clifton Collins case, classifying the assets as proceeds from criminal activity.
This batch marks the third successful recovery of funds from 12 bitcoin wallets that originally held 6000 BTC. The funds were considered inaccessible due to lost keys.
In March, Irish authorities gained access to 500 BTC, followed by another 500 BTC in May.
The operation was conducted with the assistance of Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre. The agency noted that it provided investigators and analysts with “highly skilled technical information and resources for decryption.”
In 2020, Collins was convicted of growing cannabis at home. In addition to a five-year prison sentence, the court ordered the confiscation of all his crypto assets.
The convict began investing in bitcoin in 2011-2012. Collins personally handed over some of the funds (around 89 BTC) but claimed the access codes to most wallets holding the coins were lost.
Collins had hidden the private keys in a rented house inside a fishing tackle case, but they disappeared after cleaning or a search. Since then, law enforcement has been gradually attempting to “unlock” the wallets.
According to Arkham Intelligence, approximately 4500 BTC (~$277 million at the time of writing) are held in addresses labeled Clifton Collins. This indicates that nine of the 12 original wallets remain uncracked.
Earlier, in January 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice completed the confiscation of assets worth over $400 million linked to the darknet crypto mixer Helix.
