Bitcoin worth $9.6 million will soon be available for buyers as Authorities in Australia are expected to auction them. The sources say more than 24,500 Bitcoin were confiscated from a Melbourne drug dealer in first of its kind action by the state of Victoria. The auction reminds to what happened to the seized Bitcoin from Silk Road, in the US.
The authorities say that the assets are subject to a restraining order and would soon be forfeited to the Department of Justice and sold at auction, but not before the appeal period ends in 28 days. They say that the proceeds would go to the state’s consolidated funds. Earlier on Friday, Richard Pollard, 32, of Warrandyte, was sentenced in the County Court in Melbourne to 11 years’ jail.
Richard Pollard pleaded guilty to commercial trafficking for which he received a non-parole period of seven years four months. He was on police radar for almost two years as it was monitoring him from the late 2012 when they executed a search warrant on two properties and found a variety of drugs, computer equipment and post satchels.
Hearing the case the court found that Richard Pollard was involved in trafficking of 2.8 kilograms of MDMA, 876 grams of ice, 44 grams of cocaine, 30 grams of ketamine, as well as fentanyl, methorphan and poisons between August and December, 2012. The cops were able to catch him with 61 cannabis plants.
Auction to Go Silk Road Way
Pollard’s links go to Silk Road as according to police it found express post envelopes used to distribute drugs and printouts from online trading the now defunct drug peddler website. The envelopes showed names and addresses for drug orders. He used multiple post office boxes under different names to conceal the volume of mail he received and sent.
Delivering his judgment judge Paul Lacava said that Pollard was operating a relatively large and sophisticated drug-trafficking business wherein he used the website Silk Road to acquire and on sell a variety of drugs, which you delivered mainly by using express post. He held that Pollard operated an effective one-stop shop where a variety of drugs could be purchased online.
As a punishment Pollard has been sent to 11 years wherein he has already gone through the 325 days of custody. The confiscated three Bitcoin wallets containing 24,518 Bitcoin will now be auctioned like what the authorities did to the Silk Road in the US.
To contact the reporter of this story: Deepak Tiwari at deepak@forexminute.com
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