Chilean Drug Lords Found Mining Bitcoin: El Mostrador Reports
El Mostrador Report
On Wednesday, officers from the Chilean investigative police department, PDI, conducted their regular drug bust, but this time, they came across the unexpected. They discovered that the drug lords they were targeting sold illicit substances and operated a Bitcoin mining facility.
El Mostrador, a local media house, reported that the PDI officers descended on a house in an area known as La Cisterna, which is within Santiago province. The police seized over 30 kilograms of bhang and 40 grams of ketamine.
During the operation, they noticed a computer setup with several interconnected machines emitting massive noise and huge amounts of heat. PDI officers then requested the cybercrime unit to the site, which confirmed the machines were for mining the oldest crypto asset, Bitcoin.
In an interview with El Mostrador, PDI head Eduardo Gatica said this was the first time they found drug lords involved in crypto mining.
What is Bitcoin Mining?
For beginners, Bitcoin mining is the process of validating transactions on the Bitcoin blockchain. It entails the use of heavy power-consuming equipment. Parties that validate Bitcoin transactions are called miners. For a miner to earn mining rewards, they are required to solve a complicated mathematical problem. Once they do, and add a block to the network, they will receive 6.25 BTC. The coin trades for $26,656 at press time.
Gatica told El Mostrador that they found 19 machines for mining Bitcoin, but only nine were working. He said the possible reason the other ten machines were not operating was that the electrical grid in the area was not enough to support all of them.
Gatica Claims Criminals Laundered Money Through Bitcoin Mining
Meanwhile, the PDI head is convinced that the crypto mining operation they discovered is designed for money laundering. He, however, says Bitcoin mining isn’t illegal in Chile. Gatica claims that the now-arrested drug lords bought the mining machines with money obtained from drug trafficking and then used them to swap Chilean pesos for Bitcoin.
This is not the first time Chilean police have come across criminals dealing with cryptocurrencies. Last year, a notorious criminal group, Tren de Aragua, was found in possession of $4.6 million worth of various digital currencies.
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