CAB raids seize virtual money and cash

The Criminal Assets Bureau has seized virtual currencies and cash in an operation targeting a suspected drug boss in Co Wicklow.

The individual is suspected of running a number of apparently legitimate businesses there, which have come under the radar of local, specially-trained, asset profilers.

Six searches were conducted yesterday morning in the Bray area, including two homes, two business premises and two professional offices (an accountant and a solicitor’s). The elite and heavily armed Emergency Response Unit was present for the raids, as well as members of the Wicklow Search Team. A Garda statement said that around €7,500 in cash was seized along with “evidence relating to the use of virtual currencies”. This is understood to include two such currencies, bitcoin and ethereum.