British police raid an illegal mining facility Bitcoin who stole electricity because they thought it was a cannabis factory.
In a strange series of events, UK police closed a Bitcoin mine, for illegal theft of electricity energy, after it was revealed by police who thought it was a cannabis farm.
West Midlands law enforcement officials said they had been informed of the existence of a "crowded" unit. A police plane passing over said it was receiving a significant source of heat from its location at the Great Bridge Industrial Estate in Sandwell. Of course, the officers were convinced that they were looking at the "indicative" signs of a classic cannabis plant.
But when they entered the site on May 18, they found an array of 100 specialized bitcoin mining computers. Officials confiscated the equipment when they discovered that Bitcoin miners had stolen thousands of British pounds worth of electricity to power their operation. Nobody was home at the time of the raid, but police said they intended to contact the owner of the facility.
Bitcoin mining is an expensive, time-consuming job that essentially involves solving complex computational math problems in exchange for a portion of the pay. A recent study found that the energy that usesto create cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, is greater than the consumption of some countries, such as Sweden and the Netherlands.
Sandwell Police Lt. Jennifer Griffin said: "Certainly not what we expected! It had all the hallmarks of a cannabis organization and I think it's the second cryptocurrency we came across in the West Midlands.
He added that while cryptocurrency mining itself is not illegal in the UK, electricity theft is clearly not allowed. Police said they have no intention of returning the computers, after seizing them permanently, as a product of crime.
