Chinese police discovered a Bitcoin (BTC) mining operation in what are believed to be multiple underground burial sites, Beijing News reported, according to Cointelegraph.
The local English-language news outlet’s May 31 report said officers found the illicit mining operation in the northern Chinese city of Daqing. More precisely, the mining operation was located in what appeared to be two burial mounds in the surrounding fields.
Police decided to search the area after a local oil firm told the authorities about unexplained power losses. The officers found an entrance in the vicinity of the mounds and – after some digging – and found Bitcoin mining hardware that was running on stolen electricity.
Local media reported that, earlier the same week, law enforcement found 54 Bitcoin mining rigs under a dog kennel in the same county in Heilongjiang province.
The government of Sichuan province recently announced that local firms must shut down their cryptocurrency mining operations. This is particularly noteworthy as, according to a Cambridge University study, the province is responsible for nearly 10% of the global Bitcoin hashrate.