The Head of Environment Police, Colonel Mustafa Al-Gadeem, has unveiled the seizure of 100,000 crypto mining devices in a Zliten location, and 74 in a Misrata location, not to mention other devices and power generators found in the two sites, in addition to a third crypto mining farm in Tripoli.
Al-Gadeem told Libya Alahrar TV on Saturday that the crypto (Bitcoin) mining operations were run by Chinese people in cooperation with Libyans, adding that the discovery and arrests in Zliten and Misrata came as part of a campaign by the Environment Police in cooperation with the Law Enforcement Apparatus.
“In Misrata, there were ten Chinese mining experts and in Zliten there were 60. In addition to the mining site in Zliten, there was a repairing and maintenance workshop.” Al-Gadeem explained, reiterating that the locations were all closed by orders of the Attorney General’s Office; pending investigation.
The Attorney General’s Office has already initiated a probe into the findings at a Misrata location, but while on an ongoing investigation, it discovered two other locations in Misrata and Tripoli used as cryptocurrency mining farms.