Italian Man Arrested For Paying Bitcoin to Hitman to Kill His Girlfriend

An Italian citizen was arrested after allegedly hiring a hitman in exchange for bitcoin.

According to a news article published by European policing entity Europol on April 7th, Europol-assisted Italian communications crime law enforcement Polizia Postale e Delle Comunicazioni jointly arrested a local citizen suspected of paying about €10,000 worth of bitcoin (approximately $11,900 at press time) to a deep web hitman to kill his ex-girlfriend.

Europol reportedly carried out an urgent analysis of the transactions involved to trace the coins and identify the crypto asset service provider from which the suspect had acquired the funds. The company that sold the assets confirmed the information provided by the investigators and offered more information about the suspected man. The report states that the timely investigation had prevented any harm against the potential victim.

This is not the first major Europol investigation that involves Bitcoin. In October last year, the law enforcement organization made it very clear that it aimed to take better control of crypto assets and voiced concerns over so-called mixers. Furthermore, the Europol also participated in the shutdown of the infamous deep web market Silkroad with the FBI.