German Police Seize 50,000 Bitcoins From Illegal Film Sites

The Sachen police confiscated Bitcoin from the owner of the illegal film site. (Photo; Doc. Cryptorandgroup)

JAKARTA - The Sachsen State Police, a state or Bundesland in Germany managed to confiscate nearly 50,000 bitcoins, worth about US$2.13 billion (Rp 33.8 trillion), from a programmer involved in the motorcycle2k.io illegal video sharing site. This is the largest bitcoin confiscation ever carried out by law enforcement in Germany.

This confiscation is part of an investigation conducted by the Dresden General Prosecutor's Office, Sachsen State Criminal Office, Leipzig II Tax Office, and Integrated Investigation Unit (INES). They accuse the 40-year-old programmer and his business partner of carrying out illegal commercial exploitation of copyrighted work and laundering proceeds of crime.

Movie2k.io is a site that provides free streaming and download services for pirated films. The site is very popular in Germany and ranks second after YouTube in terms of visits. However, the site was closed by authorities in 2013 for copyright infringement and threatening the film industry.

According to the police, the programmer made a big profit from the illegal site and invested it in bitcoin. He is also working with his business partner, who operates an illegal crypto trading platform, to convert bitcoin into cash. Both were arrested in 2019 and 2020.

After being arrested, the programmer voluntarily transferred part of his bitcoin, worth 25 million euros (IDR 433.5 billion), to the official wallet provided by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). However, he still keeps the rest in his password-protected private wallet. Recently, he was willing to give the password to the police, thus allowing the confiscation of the remaining bitcoins.

Polisi mengatakan bahwa keputusan akhir tentang penggunaan bitcoin yang disitakan belum ditetapkan. Mereka juga mengatakan bahwa penyelidikan masih berlanjut dan tidak akan memberikan informasi lebih lanjut hingga proses hukum selesai.