Police in the United Kingdom (UK) can now seize crypto assets from suspects without making any arrests.
New legislation came into effect on Friday giving additional crypto-related powers to the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA) and police, according to a new government announcement.
The announcement notes that the expanded powers will enable authorities to seize crypto from “sophisticated criminals” who remain anonymous or are based overseas. Police will also be empowered to seize physical items related to crypto investigations like flash drives and written passwords.
UK police are now also allowed to destroy a crypto asset “if returning it to circulation is not conducive to the public good,” and victims of crypto crime will be empowered to apply for the return of digital assets stolen from them.
Chief Crown Prosecutor Adrian Foster argues that the expanded powers are necessary in an era when criminals are taking advantage of crypto technology.
“Crypto assets are often used by criminal gangs to launder their criminal profits internationally at the touch of a button.
It is vital that investigators and prosecutors have the capability and agility to keep pace with this changing nature of crime, [and] these new measures will greatly assist our ability to restrain, freeze, or eliminate crypto assets from illegal enterprise.”
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