In its early days, bitcoin entered the limelight for all the wrong reasons. Staring with the concept of bitcoin itself which many people initially thought of it to be far-fetched. Later on, it got associated with the deep web and Silk Road to be known as the preferred black market currency. Bitcoin has come a long way since then and it is now increasingly being used for everyday transactions as well.
Even though bitcoin has been trying to get a clean slate since its Silk Road days, its past often keeps popping its ugly head up. This time thanks to Agora, another Silk Road wannabe. Agora has been in news multiple times for all the wrong reasons. Recently for the ecstasy which a shopping bot named Random DarkNet Shopper allegedly bought from Agora and now it is the illegal black market weapons.
A joint investigation by the United States Homeland Security Investigations, Australian Federal Police and the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service has led to the capture of an arms seller who was selling guns on Agora against bitcoin payments. The authorities have seized over $80,000 in bitcoins from the illegal arms dealer they arrested in Montana.
According to the authorities, they have managed to arrest about 21 people altogether as a result of their joint undercover investigation. Out of the 21 people, four of them were from Australia who were charged with attempts to buy illegal firearms. Rest of the arrests were made in Europe and North America.
Apart from catching the illegal arms seller, the authorities were able to carry out controlled delivery of packages to those who ordered weapons. It resulted in arrests as well as seizure of various illegal goods like weapons, drugs, computer and mobile devices etc. in Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales and Australian Capital Territory regions.
The Law Enforcement Authorities in Australia and United States have taken this opportunity to send a message across to people who think bitcoin transactions can’t be traced. They have made it clear that the authorities are keeping an eye on the deep web.