New Zealand law enforcement had $ 45,000 Bitcoin The robbers were involved in a failed operation targeting money laundering service operators.

Says the newspaper NZ HeraldThe purpose of the detectives was to hire services to track down and arrest criminals.

At the end of last year, the police bought Bitcoin to use it for “restricted purchases” – when officials were trying to buy illegal goods or services.

However, the operation was confusing, and police not only lost $ 45,000 in bitcoin, but also failed to identify the culprits or where the stolen cryptocurrencies were.

Authorities have not provided details of the case, but the most likely scenario is that the order for the payment service was not complied with by the party who entered into the cryptocurrency contract without leaving a trace.

According to Detective Stuart Mills of the New Zealand National Police Combating Organized Crime Group, the crime is part of a “widespread scam aimed at bitcoin wallets” and the perpetrators are from abroad.

“The police are committed to learning from this incident and to taking strong action to prevent it from happening again,” the detective told the Associated Press.

Those responsible were sought

Inspector Mills confirmed that senior officers had approved the operation in accordance with standard police procedures and had not initially found any inappropriate behavior on the part of the team.

However, an internal audit found that certain procedural loopholes failed to protect the funds held by the authorities. The detective responsible for the case became the target of a criminal investigation by the police into his actions and why the operation failed.

In the aftermath of the incident, the authorities are committed to reviewing local police policies and issuing new proposals already under consideration.