Justice is now also hunting the Bitcoins of organized crime

The federal public prosecutor mentions the fight against organized drug trafficking in its annual report one of its priorities. In addition, the federal public prosecutor does not only want to detect and prosecute individual perpetrators. She also wants to dismantle the structures. For that, taking the many money that drug lords have earned with the drug trafficking is crucial. « By removing criminal profits, we find the criminal organizations in their core and prevent them from expanding their power, » said the public prosecutor’s office.

Only the judiciary sees that criminals are increasingly using new technologies to launch their crime money white. In this way they invest their money in crypto coins. « Since 2024, the cyber unit of the Federal Public Prosecutor’s Office has been having a hard time developing expertise on seizing capacity via blockchain analysis and seizing cryto currency, » it sounds.

Read too. “Smart, ruthless and extremely rich:“ arrested cocaine boss Flor Bressers is at huge capacity ”

17 million euros Bitcoins

For example, last year the federal public prosecutor was able to take over 17 million euros to cryptoactiva from the Lommel drug lord Flor Bressers. Bressers was arrested in Switzerland in February 2022and would have hundreds of millions in drug money. But that money is well hidden. The federal public prosecutor’s office therefore also had the Italian crypto banker of Bressers picked up in 2023, who managed the Crypto accounts of the Belgian.

The Belgian justice also concluded an agreement with the Swiss that they would seize all the goods of his organization in that country, and that they would share the proceeds. « This course of action has already raised several millions of euros. »(me, cell)