Sanjay Singh, a crypto miner from the UK, is sentenced to 14 months in jail after being arrested for stealing electricity. The 40-year-old crypto miner bypassed electrical mains in order to power his mining rigs. At two separate sites. According to the report by Leicester Mercury, the miner pleaded guilty to the charges.
The investigation by the authorities showed that Sanjay interfered with the wiring installation. More specifically, he illegally obtained electricity in order to power an off the grid fuse box that was connected to more than 200 mining rigs.
This is definitely not the first time someone gets arrested in the UK on suspicions of crypto mining. In fact, reports show that the vast majority of electricity theft cases in the last year authorities usually prescribe to crypto mining operations.
This proved to be the case earlier in May. Back then, the West Midlands metropolitan county raided a cannabis growing facility on the suspicion of crypto mining. Considering the ‘thousands of pounds worth’ of power, the authorities were baffled when they found out that it wasn’t in fact a crypto mining operation.
Back then, the police used a drone that detects heat, consequently attributing the source to illegal mining rigs.
Andrew Baxter from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) considers the latest arrest of the crypto miner for stealing electricity strange. Moreover, the CPS agrees that this is not a rare criminal activity. However, it certainly is more appropriate for illegal cannabis operations, for example. Especially since crypto mining, i.e. bitcoin, is legal in the UK.
It remains to see how the UK authorities will deal with this issue. And will they manage to find a system to better distinct crypto mining from illegal growing operations. Especially since stealing electricity is one of the most frequent criminal activities in almost every country.
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