Japan Makes First Bitcoin-Related Drug Arrest
A Japanese drug importer has been arrested after allegedly purchasing narcotics from his Mexican drug runners. The kicker? He apparently bought the drugs via Bitcoin. Ayumu Teramoto, 38, was arrested by a combined police force from Tokyo and the southwestern city of Fukuoka under suspicion of buying a “stimulant drug” from abroad using bitcoin, making this the first case of someone getting arrested for carrying out a drug transaction with the digital currency. The details of the investigation are so far scarse. The term “stimulant drug” is a blanket term, but often describes narcotics like....
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Japan does not want people buying drugs with Bitcoin – but it doesn’t want to regulate the currency either (not yet, anyway). Japanese government officials are looking into ways to monitor illegal transactions paid for in digital currency, but are putting off regulating Bitcoin and its brothers under current law, according to a report by Kyodo News International published Tuesday. Fears about Bitcoin use in criminal activity have come to the forefront of government attention since Japan made its first arrest for alleged drug trafficking using Bitcoin earlier this month. The suspect....
The government of Japan has announced that it intends to increase oversight of illegal transactions that are carried out using digital currencies like bitcoin. The news comes amid increasing fears in the country that criminal organizations are using bitcoin for money laundering and drug dealing, according to a new report from Kyodo News International. Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry is now expected to set in motion a plan for how it will monitor illicit trade involving digital currency, working with other government agencies such as the Financial Services Agency and....
Ever since the Silk Road platform came to fruition, Bitcoin seems to become a favourite form of payment across dark web marketplaces. Kripos, the Norwegian Police Service’s specialized agency, is close to concluding their largest operation – dubbed Marco Polo – against a drug ring on the dark web. The dark web is attracting all types of Internet criminals these days, and online drug trafficking is just one of the many types of business taking place. A recent sting by Kripos in Norway led to the arrest of fifteen individuals, all of whom were involved in drug trafficking on the dark web.....
Police arrested Mt Gox CEO Mark Karpeles today in Japan on allegations that he manipulated volume on the then-market leading bitcoin exchange platform prior to its 2014 collapse. The formal action from the Tokyo Metropolitan Police follows escalating reports this week that Karpeles was facing criminal charges for fraud and embezzlement, and comes more than a year after Mt Gox first filed for bankruptcy protection in the US and Japan. A report by The Wall Street Journal indicated Karpeles denied he was facing imminent arrest as early as Friday, calling accusations "false" and suggesting....
Mark Karpeles, the former CEO of the now defunct bitcoin exchange Mt Gox, has been re-arrested on charges of embezzlement. According to local media reports, Tokyo's Metropolitan Police served Karpeles with a new arrest warrant earlier today. Reports suggesting a re-arrest was a possibility first surfaced yesterday amid claims he had embezzled ¥321m ($2.6m) of customer deposits to fund other personal projects. As previously reported by CoinDesk, Karpeles has been in custody for the past three weeks - the maximum time period suspects can be detained without being formally charged. The new....