British police are looking for a hemp plantation – and find Bitcoin mining farm
Confiscated Bitcoin mining equipment. (West Midlands Police)
High power consumption, ventilation systems and heat – everything pointed to an illegally operated hemp plantation. What the police in Birmingham then found was a Bitcoin mining farm.
What unites hemp plantations and Bitcoin mining farms is their high power consumption. According to calculations, around 5,000 kilowatt hours of energy are used to produce one kilogram of grass. But the Bitcoin even surpasses that. Mining a Bitcoin is likely to devour tens of thousands of kilowatt hours. Since the police are often made aware of illegal cannabis plantations through the high power consumption, it is no wonder that confusion occurs every now and then. As happened again in Birmingham.
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Hemp plantation? No, bitcoin mining farm
Just outside the British city, the West Midlands Police came across a Bitcoin mining farm while searching for a hemp plantation in a building in an industrial area. The police became aware of the building because electricity worth several thousand pounds was illegally diverted there. In addition to the high power consumption, the police officers found numerous cables and ventilation ducts. A police drone also noticed a source of heat.
And several people are said to have come and gone on a regular basis – normally safe indications for the police of the existence of a cannabis plantation. In this case, the police found around 100 computers in the building instead of plants, which were apparently responsible for mining bitcoins. “That was definitely not what we expected,” said Jennifer Griffin, Police Sergeant from Sandwell near Birmingham. Everything pointed to cannabis cultivation. The Bitcoin mining facility was only the second in the West Midlands region.
Police are looking for someone responsible for the theft of electricity
Ultimately, of course, Bitcoin mining is not prohibited. However, the operators have made themselves punishable by illegally diverting electricity. During the search of the building, the police found no one – and therefore could not arrest anyone. The hardware has meanwhile been confiscated. The police now want to track down the owner of the building and ask about the Bitcoin mining facility how it is in a message called.
