It's not new as long as there's money involved it can be used in any types of activities, there are a lot of news that spreads some of them were true and some are not in which they use Bitcoin to be the mode of payment in every transaction they made. Some of the syndicates or criminals took advantage of the anonymity as they can effectively transact with other groups without sacrificing their identities plus since the market is decentralized it is hard for the Government to track them down. Much worst some of the officials engaged in such activities (Conspiracy Theory).
Yes it can use in illegal activity because bitcoin is can hide your identity when you use it, so some people use it to make transaction like illegal drug, weapon and all the crime you know just name it , they use bitcoin as tool for payment because they cannot trace by authority or in any people who obey in the government.