What may be the most consequential cryptocurrency investigation in recent times began on a November evening in 2021 in a defiantly offline location: the southbound carriageway of Britain’s M1 motorway. Metropolitan Police officers suspected a driver was carrying illicit cash, and pulled him over as he approached London.
Bodycam footage shows the driver, Fawad Saiedi, sitting in the backseat of an unmarked police vehicle, his hands cuffed in his lap, a slightly sullen look on his face, while two officers search the boot of his car. Their tip-off had been accurate. The officers found more than £250,000 ($340,000) in cash, each bundle of notes wrapped with the denomination it contained – mostly tens and twenties, with a few fifties thrown in.
Police officers were pleased with the haul, but well aware that it was only a small victory in their campaign against organised criminals. The drugs trade in Britain generates £10bn a year, so this bust didn’t even amount to one percent of a single day’s takings. | | |
