Shaun Bridges, the ex-US Secret Service agent who fleeced Silk Road drug dealers during a probe into the cyber-souk, has managed to find a fire hotter than the frying pan he was already inhabiting.

Bridges pleaded guilty in a San Francisco court in June, admitting his part in a scam that netted US820,000 in Bitcoins from Silk Road vendors while he was investigating the underground market's boss Ross Ulbricht.

Late last week, Bridges was arrested while apparently preparing to leave America. The computer forensics expert was reportedly cuffed at his home on Thursday with a bag containing a passport, corporate records for three offshore accounts, and a bulletproof vest.

He was due to turn himself into the authorities to start serving the 71-month sentence handed down in December. His attorney Steve Levin told reporters the ex-agent was detained at his home, but declined to comment further.

Former Drug Enforcement Agency agent Carl Force got a 78-month sentence in October 2015 for also pocketing Bitcoins along with Bridges during the Silk Road investigation. ®