Irish authorities recover another 500 bitcoins from lost Clifton Collins drug stash

Irish authorities have recovered a third batch of bitcoins (BTC) worth nearly $31 million from the lost crypto holdings of convicted drug trafficker Clifton Collins.

Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) said on Thursday that with help from Europol's European Cybercrime Centre, it seized a further 500 BTC identified as proceeds of crime. This brings the bureau's total recovery in this case to 1,500 BTC worth over $92 million at current prices.

Europol said it hosted operational meetings at its headquarters in The Hague and provided "highly complex technical expertise and decryption resources" used by investigators and analysts during the operation.

It's the third such successful recovery from a cache of 12 bitcoin wallets that originally held 6,000 BTC amassed by Collins using proceeds from trafficking and growing cannabis. Authorities previously recovered 500 BTC in March and another 500 BTC in May after gaining access to the wallets.

According to reporting by The Irish Times, Collins, a former beekeeper, bought bitcoin in late 2011 and early 2012 when it traded for just a few dollars per coin. But the private keys, which he stored at a rented property in County Galway, were reportedly lost after the property was cleared out when Collins went to prison for five years in 2017.

Onchain data from Arkham Intelligence now shows wallets tagged "Clifton Collins" holding roughly 4,500 BTC worth more than $275 million at current market prices, suggesting nine of the original 12 wallets are still untouched.