Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), with technical assistance from Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, has retrieved a third tranche of 500 Bitcoin (BTC) from the long-dormant digital fortune of convicted drug trafficker Clifton Collins. This latest recovery, worth about $30.76 million, pushes the total seized in 2026 to 1,500 BTC, roughly $92 million at current prices.
Collins originally bought 6,000 BTC between 2011 and 2012 for just $30,000, proceeds from cannabis trafficking. After his arrest, the funds were considered permanently lost because he claimed to have lost the private keys to his wallets. For nearly a decade, the coins sat untouched, until Europol’s forensic decryption technology made it possible to breach the dormant wallets. The first 500 BTC were moved in April, followed by another 500 BTC in May. Now, the July transfer brings the running total to three batches of 500 BTC each.
On-chain data from Arkham Intelligence confirms the movement: all three batches have been sent from addresses associated with the Irish police to a Coinbase Prime deposit wallet. The original nine wallets still hold approximately 4,500 BTC, worth an estimated $277 million, and remain under CAB’s scrutiny. Investigations are ongoing as authorities work with Europol to unlock the remaining funds.
This case underscores the growing ability of international agencies to track and recover blockchain-based assets, chipping away at the myth of criminal anonymity in crypto markets. CAB’s public statement confirmed the seizure via Twitter, noting the current valuation of approximately €27 million per batch, and highlighting the strategic cooperation that made the recovery possible.
