• Press Releases
    • Submit a press release
    • Read All
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
Crypto.com Logo Crypto.com Logo
Bitcoinist.com
No Result
View All Result
  • Bitcoin
    • News
    • Price
    • Businesses
    • Acceptance
    • Technology
    • Investment
    • Regulation
    • Reviews
    • All Bitcoin News
  • Altcoins
    • News
    • Price
    • Ethereum
    • Ripple
    • Litecoin
    • EOS
    • NAGA
    • All Altcoin News
  • Tech
    • Blockchain
    • Security
    • FinTech
  • Industry
    • Industry News
    • Press Releases
  • Price
    • Bitcoin Price
    • Ethereum Price
    • Litecoin Price
    • Binance Coin Price
  • How to
    • Buy gift cards/mobile Top Ups with Cryptos
    • What Is Bitcoin?
    • Best Bitcoin Wallet
    • Bitcoin vs Ethereum
    • Why Use Blockchain Technology?
    • Bitcoin Cash ABC vs. Bitcoin Cash SV
    • How to Buy Cryptocurrency
    • Bitcoin Mining
    • Best Bitcoin Brokers
    • Best Bitcoin Forex Brokers
    • How To Earn Bitcoin
    • What is Facebook Libra?
    • Ripple and XRP: The Complete Guide
    • Bitcoin Casinos – Where, What and How to Play
  • Events
  • Play Games
  • Play Casino Games
  • Win 1 BTC
Breaking News: This Bankrupt Crypto Firm Returns 27,000 Mining Rigs To Pay Off Loan
  • Bitcoin
    • News
    • Price
    • Businesses
    • Acceptance
    • Technology
    • Investment
    • Regulation
    • Reviews
    • All Bitcoin News
  • Altcoins
    • News
    • Price
    • Ethereum
    • Ripple
    • Litecoin
    • EOS
    • NAGA
    • All Altcoin News
  • Tech
    • Blockchain
    • Security
    • FinTech
  • Industry
    • Industry News
    • Press Releases
  • Price
    • Bitcoin Price
    • Ethereum Price
    • Litecoin Price
    • Binance Coin Price
  • How to
    • Buy gift cards/mobile Top Ups with Cryptos
    • What Is Bitcoin?
    • Best Bitcoin Wallet
    • Bitcoin vs Ethereum
    • Why Use Blockchain Technology?
    • Bitcoin Cash ABC vs. Bitcoin Cash SV
    • How to Buy Cryptocurrency
    • Bitcoin Mining
    • Best Bitcoin Brokers
    • Best Bitcoin Forex Brokers
    • How To Earn Bitcoin
    • What is Facebook Libra?
    • Ripple and XRP: The Complete Guide
    • Bitcoin Casinos – Where, What and How to Play
  • Events
  • Play Games
  • Play Casino Games
  • Win 1 BTC
Bitcoinist.com
No Result
View All Result
Breaking News: This Bankrupt Crypto Firm Returns 27,000 Mining Rigs To Pay Off Loan
Advertisement

Authorities Uncover Bitcoin-Funded Gunrunning Operation

Trevor Hill by Trevor Hill
8 years ago
in Bitcoin, Markets and Prices, News, News teaser, Trending
0
Advertisement

A clandestine operation conducted by the Australian Federal Police (AFP), in conjunction with the United States Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), has resulted in the toppling of an international illegal operation connected to bitcoin. The activities were partially funded through bitcoin and occurred through the so called “dark web,” which is a distributed network  where many online black market services are provided.

Also read: Ross Ulbricht Found Guilty of Running Silk Road

Don't wait! Jump on this Crypto Deal and get a 150% Welcome Bonus plus 100 Free Spins on your deposit today!

Silk_road_paymentAccording to the press release issued by Australian authorities, the multinational sting was initiated when the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS) passed down key information about the arms trafficking activities to HSI. Acting on the information obtained from the ACBPS, the HSI decided to follow up with an investigation of their own. Their investigation involved HSI agents creating an alias account to come in contact with people implicated. Through this covert account, the agents identified Australia-based customers attempting to illegally buy firearms. With further information acquired, this led to six controlled deliveries of parcels to addresses located  in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, and the ACT.

The delivery of the parcels resulted in 15 search warrants being issued in February and March. Although the investigation focused on the illegal trading of firearms, it also resulted in the seizure of drugs that were exchanged through the underground client-base. It is not uncommon for stings directed towards illegal online activities to uncover supplementary illegal activity not within the purview of the initial investigation. In all, four illegal firearms, two clandestine laboratories, ammunition, precursor chemicals, methamphetamines, pseudoephedrine, steroids, computer equipment, and mobile telephones were seized as the result of the arms trafficking investigation. 34 charges have been made relating to the operation thus far.

Australian authorities see the investigation as a huge success, considering it to be a blow to online crime, which strengthened national security from firearm threats. The ACBPS National Director Investigations, Assistant Commissioner Steve Lancaster, went as far as saying that it was was the most successful darknet firearms investigation conducted in Australian history.

BitStarz Player Lands $2,459,124 Record Win! Could you be next big winner?
570% up to 12 BTC + 300 Free Spins for new players & 1 BTC in bonuses every day, only at Wild.io. Play Now!

Also, the press release has AFP Assistant Commissioner Jabbour quoted as saying,

“Disrupting the supply of illegal firearms remains a priority for the AFP, and the success of this operation is another example of the results that can be achieved through cross-agency collaboration.”

On a global scale, the operation has led to the arrests of 17 people in North America and Europe. In addition, as part of the overall investigation, $80,000 worth of bitcoin have been seized; the arrests also led to further confiscation of drugs, firearms, and ballistic armor.

The sting operation is just one of the more recent that have involved illegal activities relating to bitcoin. The short history of Bitcoin has already seen many attempts by online black merchants to take advantage of the built-in anonymity of the network as a way to hide their activities. The most prominent example being Silk Road and it’s reincarnation, Silk Road 2.0. Silk Road was a large online black market used primarily to buy and sell drugs, whose payment system revolved around the use of bitcoin with all transactions being conducted through the digital currency. The managers of the black market held the bitcoin in escrow, allowing them to fix the value of the bitcoin to its dollar amount at the time of the transaction in order to mitigate any volatility problems. It has been estimated that $15 million in transactions were made annually — some estimates put that number even higher. According to data gained from the silk road servers from 2011 to 2013, these transactions generated over 9.5 million BTC in revenue, which at the time was roughly worth $1.2 billion. The owner of Silk Road, Ross Ulbricht, was arrested by the FBI in October of 2013 in San Francisco. Over 140,000 bitcoins were confiscated by the FBI from his personal computer, worth nearly 30 million dollars.

The success of these covert operations has been contested by economists and other experts alike. Generally, the war on drugs has been steadily declining in support, and many have said that the illegality of drugs and other things like arms trafficking is what creates the black markets in the first place. This claim seems to have been given some merit, as the Australian Broadcasting Company reported in 2014 that the closing of Silk Road had no effect on the online market for drugs, and in fact drug sales seemed to have increase afterwards.

In contrast, law enforcement agents continue to persist that their efforts have been successful. In the press release, a HSI representative shared similar sentiments with the media that also served as a warning to any who would think to engage in such activities in the future.

“People using these sites should not be fooled by claims of online anonymity; each transaction builds up a global web of intelligence which international partners are using to target you.”

Whether or not they will be proven right remains to be seen.

What do you think of bitcoin being used to fund illegal activities like arms trafficking? Let us know in the comments below!


Sources: Press Release, ABC.net

Images: bitcoinswithcreditcard.com, ABC.net, Wikipedia

ShareTweetShareShare

Sign Up for Our Newsletter!

For updates and exclusive offers enter your email.

I consent to my submitted data being collected and stored.

Trevor Hill

Trevor Hill

Trevor is a writer at Bitcoinist. He is currently attending his first year at the University of Wisconsin-Fox Valley, with a selected major in Economics. Subscribes to the Austrian school of economics.

Related Posts

New record: 49% of Bitcoin Supply Has Not Changed Hands in 2 Years

New Record: Half Of Bitcoin Supply Hasn’t Changed Hands In 2 Years

2 hours ago
Bitcoin Derivatives Markets Volumes Show Bullish Trend After 2022 Downturn

Bitcoin Derivatives Market Volumes Show Bullish Trend After 2022 Downturn

1 day ago
Bitcoin

Sri Lanka Central Bank Says Bitcoin Cannot Solve Economic Crisis

1 day ago
tulip mania bitcoin

Celebrating The Tulip Mania Anniversary With Bitcoin & Crypto

2 days ago
Bitcoin Long-Term Holders Now Hold 78% Of Supply, Highest Level Ever

Bitcoin Long-Term Holders Now Hold 78% Of Supply, Highest Level Ever

2 days ago
Bitcoin

Why Bitcoin Is Among ‘Hottest Subjects’ On Earth, According To ‘Rich Dad’ R. Kiyosaki

2 days ago
Please login to join discussion

Premium Partners

Premium Casino Partners

Top Casinos

BitStarz
BitStarz
Punt Casino
Punt Casino
mBit
mBit
Metaspins
Metaspins
1xBit
1xBit
Coinplay
Coinplay
K8
K8
Vegas Casino
Vegas Casino

Sportbooks

Coinplay
Coinplay

Press Releases

  • Crypto Is Here to Stay. Here’s Why You Should Invest...

    6 hours ago
  • Dogecoin (DOGE) and Shiba Inu (SHIB) Bounce While Snowfall...

    6 hours ago
  • Avalanche (AVAX), Gala (GALA), and Orbeon Protocol (ORBN)...

    8 hours ago
  • As Bitcoin And Filecoin Continue To Rise, The Most...

    1 day ago
  • Which Cryptocurrencies You Should Buy – Big Eyes...

    1 day ago

Bitcoin news portal providing breaking news, guides, price analysis about decentralized digital money & blockchain technology.

Bitcoin

  • News
  • Price
  • Businesses
  • Acceptance
  • Technology
  • Investment
  • Regulation
  • Reviews

Altcoins

  • News
  • Price
  • Ethereum
  • Ripple
  • Litecoin
  • EOS
  • NAGA

Categories

  • Blockchain
  • Security
  • FinTech
  • Technology
  • Trending
  • Breaking News
  • Press Releases
  • How to

Pages

  • Contact us
  • Editorial Policy
  • Advertise
  • Crypto Prices from Nomics
© 2023 Bitcoinist.com. All Rights Reserved.
  • Bitcoin
    • News
    • Price
    • Businesses
    • Acceptance
    • Technology
    • Investment
    • Regulation
    • Reviews
    • All Bitcoin News
  • Altcoins
    • News
    • Price
    • Ethereum
    • Ripple
    • Litecoin
    • EOS
    • NAGA
    • All Altcoin News
  • Tech
    • Blockchain
    • Security
    • FinTech
  • Industry
    • Industry News
    • Press Releases
  • Price
    • Bitcoin Price
    • Ethereum Price
    • Litecoin Price
    • Binance Coin Price
  • How to
    • Buy gift cards/mobile Top Ups with Cryptos
    • What Is Bitcoin?
    • Best Bitcoin Wallet
    • Bitcoin vs Ethereum
    • Why Use Blockchain Technology?
    • Bitcoin Cash ABC vs. Bitcoin Cash SV
    • How to Buy Cryptocurrency
    • Bitcoin Mining
    • Best Bitcoin Brokers
    • Best Bitcoin Forex Brokers
    • How To Earn Bitcoin
    • What is Facebook Libra?
    • Ripple and XRP: The Complete Guide
    • Bitcoin Casinos – Where, What and How to Play
  • Events
  • Play Games
  • Play Casino Games
  • Win 1 BTC

© 2022 Bitcoinist. All Rights Reserved.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy Center or Cookie Policy.