An ex-officer at the National Crime Agency has been jailed for looting 50 Bitcoins, seized from the co-founder of Silk Road 2.0. On July 16, 2025, the Crown Prosecution Service said a former operational officer of NCA who was also in the investigation team of Silk Road and Silk Road 2.0 has been jailed for 5 1⁄2 years for stealing Bitcoin with millions.
Paul Chowles, the jailed officer, pleaded guilty to the charges of theft, concealing criminal property, and transferring criminal property.
The document by the Crown Prosecution Service, “ Between 6 and 7 May 2017, 50 of the 97 Bitcoins seized by the NCA were transferred from a ‘retirement wallet’ owned by White to a public address in two transactions. The Bitcoin was then broken down into smaller amounts and transferred through the “Bitcoin Fog”, before being moved to other public addresses in an attempt to hide the trail of the money.”
Further adds, “ Chowles then either converted the Bitcoin to pound sterling and withdrew the funds from his account or used both a Cryptopay debit card and a Wirex debit card provided with accounts he set up.”
Alex Johnson, Specialist Prosecutor with the Crown Prosecution Service’s Special Crime Division, said, “ Within the NCA, Paul Chowles was regarded as someone who was competent, technically minded and very aware of the dark web and cryptocurrencies.”
“He took advantage of his position working on this investigation by lining his own pockets while devising a plan that he believed would ensure that suspicion would never fall upon him, added Alex.”
What is Silk Road 2.0?
Silk Road 2.0 was an online black market on the dark web, which was reportedly launched in November 2013 as the successor of Silk Road, which was shut down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in October 2013.
The market operated on the Tor Network using Bitcoin for anonymous transactions and primarily facilitated the sale of illegal drugs and counterfeit IDs, including other illegal goods and services.
By September 2014, it reportedly had around 150,000 active users and generated approximately $8 million in monthly sales, with the site earning 5% commission of transactions.
Silk Road 2.0 faced a major hack exploiting a Bitcoin protocol vulnerability called ‘transaction malleability,’ resulting in a theft of $2.7 million worth of Bitcoin from its escrow accounts.
According to data from the original Silk Road, which shared a similar user demographic, about 10% of registered users were from the United Kingdom, ranking among the top nations after the United States.
