Last modified on Fri 28 May 2021 11.08 EDT
Police have discovered a cryptocurrency operation that used stolen electricity to mine bitcoin in the West Midlands.
Officers from West Midlands police raided a building in an industrial estate on 18 May expecting to find a cannabis farm, but instead stumbled upon the cryptocurrency scheme. No arrests have been made.
Users gain bitcoin and some other cryptocurrencies through “mining”, a process in which computers solve complex mathematical puzzles. Those puzzles have by design become more difficult as more bitcoin has been awarded to users, meaning more powerful computers and significantly more energy are needed to make mining worthwhile.
By Press Association 2021
Cryptocurrency mine
A cryptocurrency “mine” which was stealing electricity worth thousands of pounds has been uncovered in the West Midlands.
Police said they executed a drugs warrant at an industrial estate in Sandwell on May 18 after receiving intelligence that the site was being used as a cannabis farm.
But the West Midlands force said it instead found a huge bank of around 100 computer units as part of what is understood to be a Bitcoin mining operation.
The operation was uncovered by police at an industrial unit in Sandwell (West Midlands Police/PA)
The IT equipment was seized from the building in the Great Bridge Industrial Estate and inquiries with Western Power revealed the electric supply had been bypassed.
Sandwell cryptocurrency mine found stealing electricity
West Midlands Police has uncovered a cryptocurrency ‘mine’ while searching for drugs in an industrial unit
Image: West Midlands Police
A cryptocurrency ‘mine’ inside an industrial unit in Sandwell, West Mindlands, has been found to be stealing thousands of pounds worth of electricity from the mains supply.
That’s according to West Midlands Police, which uncovered the mine while executing a drugs warrant to search for a cannabis farm.
When they entered the building, officers found a bank of around 100 computer units as part of a Bitcoin mining operation.
An investigation with Western Power revealed the electric supply had been bypassed and thousands of pounds worth had been stolen to power the ‘mine’.
After carrying out a drugs raid, police were surprised to find a huge cryptocurrency mine located at a suspected cannabis plant. West Midlands Police officers headed to an unit at the Great Bridge Industrial Estate in Sandwell on May 18, following suspicions about the enormous volume of power being used at the site. It was …