Photo: Cohasset Police
A man has been arrested and charged in a small town outside of Boston after local authorities discovered “an illegal cryptocurrency mining operation” hidden under the floor of a school.
As the BBC reports, the accused – 39-year-old Nadeam Nahas – was previously the deputy director of facilities in the small town of Cohasset, about 10 miles outside of Boston. In December 2021, a “routine inspection” of the school revealed suspicious conversions.
Cohasset Police Chief William Quigley told the BBC that, according to the principal of Cohasset High School, “during a routine inspection of the school, electrical cables, makeshift wiring and numerous computers that appeared to be out of place were noticed”.
The ducts and cables all led to the same location, “near the school’s boiler room,” and a check under the floor revealed “a cryptocurrency mining operation illegally connected to the school’s electrical system.”
Photo: Cohasset Police
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As you can see in the image above provided by local police, while this wasn’t a warehouse-sized operation – a total of 11 computers were discovered, including some “internal ‘coolers’ vented to the outside”, but a one nonetheless considerable amount of hardware hiding under the floor of a school. And it drew more than enough energy to leave a mark.
Authorities say the mining setup operated from April to December 2021, generating electricity bills for the school estimated at around $17,500. Nahas, who pleaded not guilty in court last week, resigned from his job as deputy head of facilities shortly after the operation was discovered. He was arrested last year after months of investigations involving not only local police but also the US Coast Guard and Department of Homeland Security.
The Boston Globe says Naha’s specific charges include the destruction of a school and the fraudulent use of electricity, and he was “ordered to stay away from all public buildings in Cohassett.”