A 43-year-old man from Tilburg has been arrested for stealing electricity to power 21 computers which were mining the electronic currency bitcoin.

The bitcoin farm was located in a commercial property in Goirle. Police did not say how long the farm had been operating or how many bitcoin the suspect had mined.

The man was arrested on suspicion of stealing electricity and money laundering, police said. His computers have been seized and are being examined by cybercrime experts for evidence of ‘other illegal activity’.