UK police are shocked to learn that energy-dense weed farming is actually a Bitcoin mine

Police in the UK raided an industrial unit outside Birmingham on suspicion of hosting an indoor marijuana growing operation, CNBC reported. They were surprised to find an extensive Bitcoin mining setup that illegally sucks electricity from a power source.

Before the raid, the police watched many people enter and leave the building throughout the day and saw extensive vents and wiring. They also claim the drones are capable of detecting high amounts of heat coming from buildings. Because indoor cannabis farms use a system of planting lights, heating, and ventilation to grow crops in a place that doesn't normally thrive, police believe they are seeing the "classic signs" of a covert weed operation.

What they were actually looking at, as they soon learned, was about approximately a hundred or so Antminer S9 machines, generate large amounts of heat when they mint new coins. Mistakes are easy to make, and incidentally, aren't illegal in the cases where cryptocurrency miners pay their utility bills. This particular operation, however, drained “thousands of pounds” worth of mains electricity, and was consequently shut down by the same police who thought they were preparing for a drug raid.

Mining equipment, which we can estimate to be worth over $5,000, was seized, although no arrests were made.

The police may not catch the drug network, but they are likely to do better by shutting down this illegal mining - for the environment. In 2016, weeds accounted for 1 percent of electricity consumption in the US, equivalent to 15 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, at that time. In comparison, Bitcoin is estimated to be responsible for nearly 0.25 percent of worldwide electricity consumption in 2019.

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Keywords: bitcoin mine, uk police, bitcoin, bitcoin news, uk bitcoin