Kosovo police has directed an operation that ended up in the seizure of several devices used to mine cryptocurrencies in the village of Trebice in Leposavic, states the announcement of the minister of internal affairs, Xhelal Svecla.
“In this operation, near the Trebice village of the Leposavic commune, a total of 272 devices have been confiscated and 1 person arrested,’ – said Svecla.
Several units were involved in the operation to support Kosovo’s Customs Unit in executing search warrants in northern Kosovo.
The types of devices seized by the police were used in the mining of the most prominent type of cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin.
Kosovo is currently facing a harsh energy crisis, following the rise in the price of imports for electricity. Authorities have put in place several emergency measures to deal with the crisis.
Last week, the Kosovo Government announced that all competent institutions would be engaged in banning all production of cryptocurrency, known as ‘mining’, because devices used in this process require high amounts of electricity.
For many years, Kosovo has reported numerous cases of misuses when it comes to electricity, mainly due to the fact that in the northern provinces of Mitrovica, which is inhabited by a Serbian ethnic majority, residents are exempt from paying their energy bills, following an agreement that was signed after the Kosovo War.
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