UK Police Force Seized 295 Bitcoins From Criminal

County police officers from Surrey, U.K., recently recovered tons of bitcoins during a criminal investigation from a Latvian man called Seregjs Teresko, who has been convicted for money laundering and was sentenced to nine years in prison, stated the Financial Times.

According to the Financial Times, the force obtained 295 bitcoins last October which the officers later sold for approximately $1.5 million following a court hearing at the time. But the price of bitcoin has escalated from $5,000 to almost $20,000 just two months later.

A ruling was made on Thursday by the Local court in which states that the Surrey Police Force has the right to seize the Bitcoins that were taken from Teresko. The force is further allowed to keep 18.8 percent of the proceeds – approximately £273,000 – that will go towards its operational budget.

The report depicts how, in the wake of acquiring the money launderer’s private key to the bitcoin holdings, the police afterward set up its own digital wallet and purportedly used an abroad cryptocurrency exchange to liquidate the assets.

The news comes as a period when the law requires organizations in the U.K. are expanding their insight about digital currency with an end goal to better explore violations that include the innovation, and in addition to all the more effectively seize such resources.

Sometime last year, an examination office supported by a gathering of U.K. law requirement bunches proposed changing the country’s laws to make seizing bitcoin less demanding. The N8 Policing Research Partnership said at the time it meant to increase institutional learning about cryptocurrency among British police authorities through a wide preparing activity.