POLICE have seized £1.3million in cryptocurrency from a man jailed for selling drugs on the dark web.

Specialist officers used innovative investigative techniques to uncover his crypto haul and dismantle the operation Ryan Coleman was running from his Torquay home.

Coleman, aged 36, of Sherwell Valley Road, previously admitted supplying cocaine, ecstasy, cannabis and ketamine and was sentenced to 15 years in prison on September 12 at Exeter Crown Court.

Having seized crypto currency from Coleman, Detectives will seek to confiscate the funds through the Proceeds of Crime Act following his conviction.

It means the seized cryptocurrency, valued at £1.3million, can be reinvested into the force to fund proactive operations and towards good causes.

Half of the funds will go to HM Treasury to invest in public services.

Detectives from the Serious and Organised Crime Investigation Team became aware of Coleman in 2021 during another drugs investigation they were running in South Devon.

They had information to suggest he was involved in the movement and laundering of crypto currency, and they soon launched Operation Freebie to look into him.

After building up a picture of his activity, police carried out a warrant at Coleman’s home and seized his computer.

Coleman wasn’t home at the time, but officers spoke to him on the phone, and he agreed to hand himself in later that day.

However, before attending Torquay Police Station, he tried to hide £550,000 in crypto assets, looked up how to clear data from a phone and deleted messages about drug sales and crypto accounts.

When he was arrested, officers seized his phone and were able to recover the deleted material.

Specialist officers forensically examined his devices and found that Coleman had been trading under the pseudonym ‘Snowcap’ on multiple dark web marketplaces for six years.

Two of the marketplaces had been shut down by international law enforcement agencies and Detectives were able to obtain data from them which confirmed ‘Snowcap’ had been operating through the sites.

In total he sold around 80kg of Class A and B drugs which were worth over £1m, in 18,500 sales.

Officers were also able to evidence that Coleman had been using the crypto-currency payments to fund his lifestyle, including holidays, sporting activities and a personal trainer.

Crypto is held virtually in online wallets which are accessed by strings of words known as ‘recovery seeds’. Detectives recovered a number of recovery seeds on the computer seized from Coleman and were able to then access multiple wallets.

They were also able to cross reference these with the dark web sales data and information found on his devices to attribute them to Coleman.

Coleman was later charged and pleaded guilty to the following with five offences:

He appeared at Exeter Crown Court on September 12, where the judge sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

Senior Investigating Officer, Detective Chief Inspector Sam Smoothy, said: ‘This case highlights the evolving tactics of organised crime groups using cryptocurrency and the dark web to facilitate illicit drug trade.

‘Through advanced blockchain analysis, collaboration with international partners and traditional investigative techniques, we were able to dismantle a sophisticated operation, seize significant assets, and bring Ryan Coleman to justice.

‘This serves as a clear message: Devon & Cornwall Police is continually advancing our investigative methods to track, trace, and disrupt criminal networks and drug trafficking will not be tolerated’.

You can report drug related activity to us through our non-emergency channels or, alternatively, you can contact the charity Crimestoppers anonymously.

For help and advice please go to the force website County lines | Devon & Cornwall Police (devon-cornwall.police.uk).