Netherlands arrests 10 youths for money laundering using Bitcoin

NetEase Technology News, January 21, according to Reuters, the Dutch Attorney General said on Wednesday that Dutch police recently raided 15 locations in the country and arrested 10 Dutch youths suspected of using Bitcoin to launder money for drug trafficking websites. These youths are all in their early 20s, and prosecutors believe that the scale of their money laundering has reached 15 million to 20 million euros.

Online drug dealers trade drugs through the "dark web" - websites that cannot be found through search engines and require special software to access - and these suspects use Bitcoin's convenience and anonymity to launder money for drug dealers.

Dutch police are still investigating the true identity of the drug dealers, but in the raid on Tuesday, they seized about 15 kilograms of drug-making chemicals.

According to a statement from the Dutch police, a large number of luxury cars, cash and bank accounts have been frozen, including an undisclosed amount of Bitcoin. The Dutch police have begun seeking cooperation from the United States, Australia, Lithuania and Morocco.

According to a reporter from De Telegraaf who witnessed the police raid, the suspect was discovered because he frequently transferred money to certain designated bank accounts, but after the transfer was successful, he quickly cashed out through ATMs.

More than 250 police officers and sheriff's deputies were involved in Tuesday's raid.