Yes i think there is a relation because of bitcoin nature as an anonymous currency usable online and offline it might have increased some online crimes like cross-continent drug dealing and with no ID's and evidence. And so some criminals had the idea of using bitcoins to use bitcoin in their crimes.
Criminals have been conducting crimes on the internet for a very long time, way before bitcoin was even close to being an idea in satoshis head, people use stuff for uses the inventors never even imagined, a kitchen knife was created to cut fruits and vegetables, meat and other stuff in the kitchen, but unfortunately, it is a very common weapon in domestic disputes.
That's true, crime is already done many times on internet and now we have bitcoin currency and it can also be used as tool for any internet crime like just wannacry did on there ransomeware attack, they used bitcoin as payment of there crime.