Statement from Reykjavik Metropolitan Police regarding Silk Road

Runa Sandvik
2 min readOct 14, 2013

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On October 9, 2013, two Icelandic websites published articles saying law enforcement in Iceland assisted the FBI in investigating Silk Road in May 2013.Below is the statement I just received from the Reykjavik Metropolitan Police regarding Silk Road :

Original Icelandic version of the statement:

Lögreglan á höfuborgarsvæðinu hefur frá því um miðjan maí sl. aðstoðað bandarísk yfirvöld við rannsókn á starfsemi vefsíðunnar Silkroad sem hýsti markaðssvæði með ólögleg fíkniefni og aðra ólögmæta starfssemi. Aðstoðin var veitt á grundvelli réttarbeiðni og fólst í öflun rafrænna gagna um vefsíðuna sem hýst var hér á landi. Lauk þessari rannsóknaraðstoð með aðgerðum hér á landi í síðustu viku þar sem Silkroad vefsíðan var tekin niður og haldlagður rafrænn gjaldmiðill, Bitcoin, að jafnvirði yfir 3 milljónir bandaríkjadala. Ekki eru önnur tengsl við Ísland en þau að vefsíðan var hýst hér á landi, engar handtökur voru framkvæmdar vegna þessa hér á landi og engir innlendir aðilar tengjast að öðru leyti rekstri hennar. Rannsókn málsins er á forræði FBI og er öllum fyrirspurnum vísað þangað. Frekari upplýsingar um málið verða ekki veittar af lögreglunni á höfuðborgarsvæðinu.

A Google translated version:

Police Seas city area since the mid-May. assisted U.S. authorities in the investigation of the activities of the website Silk Road which housed the market with illegal drugs and other illegal activities. The aid was granted on the basis of the proceedings and involved the collection of electronic data resource that was hosted in the country. Completed this study support the actions of this country in the last week where Silk Road website was taken down and laid seize electronic currency, Bitcoin, the equivalent of over 3 million. There is no other relationship with Iceland which the website was hosted in the country, no arrests were made because of this in this country and no residents otherwise connected with its operation. Investigation of the case is controlled by the FBI and all inquiries referred to. Further details of the case will not be granted by the police in the capital.

The email came from the Detective Chief Superintendent with the Reykjavik Metropolitan Police. I replied to the email saying the statement seems to suggest that the Silk Road website itself was hosted in Iceland, and asked if he could confirm this. His reply simply said “Yes, that’s correct”.

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