Karlsruhe (dpa/lsw) – Around three years after a threatened explosive attack on a company and the extortion of several hundred thousand euros in the cryptocurrency Bitcoin, a man is in custody. The police and public prosecutor’s office in Karlsruhe accuse the 53-year-old of particularly serious extortion, according to information released on Friday. Despite the supposed anonymity of the computer-generated bitcoins and various concealment measures by the suspect, the investigators tracked down the man and brought him before a magistrate at the end of last week.
Officials from Switzerland searched the German’s home there. The investigators had secured numerous pieces of evidence, including explosive substances and illegal firearms. A spokesman for the public prosecutor’s office did not provide any information as to why the Karlsruhe authorities are responsible.