British cops who were searching for a pot farm ended up uncovering a bitcoin mining operation that was illegally stealing electricity.
Officers from the West Midlands police say they found a huge bank of around 100 computers trying to create cryptocurrency at a site they had been told was a marijuana farm outside Birmingham on May 18.
The facility, which cops said they “understood to be a bitcoin mining operation,” had stolen thousands of dollars worth of electricity to operate the hunt for online riches, police said.
“It’s certainly not what we were expecting!” Sandwell police Sgt. Jennifer Griffin said in a statement. “It had all the hallmarks of a cannabis cultivation set-up and I believe it’s only the second such crypto mine we’ve encountered in the West Midlands.”
Police said they seized the mine’s IT equipment, but no arrests have been made. West Midlands Police The cops were initially searching for a marijuana farm before stumbling on the mining site.West Midlands Police
Police said they seized the mine’s IT equipment, but no arrests have been made.
So-called bitcoin “mining” involves using computers to solve complex math problems in an effort to be rewarded with freshly minted units of the
