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"The computer equipment has been seized but no arrests have been made, the force said." Whoever does get arrested for this, they won't be facing the same charg
by ccity88 5y ago
"The computer equipment has been seized but no arrests have been made, the force said."
Whoever does get arrested for this, they won't be facing the same charges for intent to supply drugs. I'm not sure on the penalty of stealing electricity, but it's probably a lot less severe.
- cinntaile 5y agoI don't get your reply? Obviously they're not facing charges for intent to supply drugs because that's not what they did?
- sdflhasjd 5y agoComputer equipment getting seized is unusual for electricity theft.
- dboreham 5y agoPolice like to seize stuff.
- bryanrasmussen 5y agoIf it's a business getting raided for a crime I would expect some seizure of computer equipment might happen.
- Ensorceled 5y agoIn a consumer setting, I would be also be surprised. In this setting where it probably isn't clear exactly who the perpetrators are, you seize the assets until you can figure that out. I'm sure this wasn't all being done by "Sandwell Bitcoin Miners Ltd.", a registered British corporation majority owned by Joe Sandwell.
- bserge 5y agoIt will probably be returned.
- pjc50 5y agoNormally when the police find a large amount of electricity theft it's for drugs, and the "news" in this is that it's for some other purpose.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- Hamuko 5y agoCan they be forced to give up all of the proceeds from their illegal actiivty?
- sschueller 5y agoI think they just need to pay the amount they stole plus penalty.
- onion2k 5y agoHere in the UK we have what's known as CPSPOC, or "Criminal Prosecution Service Proceeds of Crime" unit. Their job is to recover all proceeds from criminal activity. In this case I imagine they'll try to argue that the bitcoins mined with stolen electricity are proceeds of crime, and they'll confiscate them. The money recovered will go to the treasury after the electricity company has been compensated.
- tgsovlerkhgsel 5y agoThat assumes they can actually get the Bitcoin. It's also likely that there won't be anything left after compensating the power company, since the mining operation was likely unprofitable if taking the cost of electricity into account.
- tluyben2 5y agoIt might have been profitable 2 months, it's not anymore and soon it will seem silly (when BTC drops below 20k) even until the next bull market comes along.
- onion2k 5y agoThat assumes they can actually get the Bitcoin. If they can't then they can also charge the people behind the electricity theft with a bunch of additional crimes about withholding the proceeds of crime, money laundering, refusing to hand over encryption keys, etc. If the operation was unprofitable that doesn't matter either - if the CPS determine you mined, say, 1000BTC then that's what you 'owe'. If you can't pay it then they'll seize your other assets up to that amount. That money is then used to pay the electricity company, government, etc. The law is very much rigged against you if you're caught.
- robin_reala 5y agoThe crime is specifically “abstracting electricity”, which is dealt with in the Theft Art 1968. Highest sentence seems to be 5 years imprisonment, but 1 year the normal upper limit: https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-court/item/abstracting-electricity/ https://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk/offences/magistrates-co...
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]