West Midlands Police in western England, during searches of a drug laboratory uncovered a cryptocurrency mining operation that had been stealing electricity “to the value of thousands of pounds”.
Using a drone, law enforcement spotted elevated heat signatures at the local industrial estate. They also found that the area was regularly visited by ‘suspicious individuals’.
They suspected they had found a cannabis-growing farm, and obtained a search warrant. Instead of drugs, there were ‘about a hundred’ computers.
“This is not at all what we expected! It had all the hallmarks of a cannabis-growing operation,” said Police Sergeant Jennifer Griffin.
No one was found inside, but investigators will continue the investigation. All equipment has been seized.
Earlier, a miner from Syktyvkar stole electricity worth 5.5 million rubles.
As noted, since the start of 2021 Rosseti has estimated the damage from illegal mining at almost 5 million rubles.
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