A gang of thieves from Iceland have been jailed for stealing Bitcoin mining equipment.
Sindri Thor Stefansson was jailed for four-and-a-half years, while Matthias Jon Karlsson and Hafthor Logi Hlynsson were sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison and 20 months in prison, respectively.
The gang stole mining equipment worth $2 million and attempted two other heists between December 2017 and January 2018.
In April last year, Stefansson hit the headlines when he escaped through a window of the low-security Sogn prison in southern Iceland and boarded a flight to Sweden at an airport 59 miles away.
He was eventually arrested in Holland.
At the time, police chief Gunnar Schram told Icelandic news outlet Visir: “He had an accomplice. We are sure of that.”
The theft of 600 computers was described as “a grand theft on a scale unseen before” by Icelandic police commissioner Olafur Helgi Kjartansson.
Four other men were also sentenced, reports English-language news outlet Iceland Monitor.
The men have been ordered to pay $273,000 compensation to IT company Advania.
Iceland is a cryptocurrency mining hub thanks to its cheap energy and cold climate, which helps cool the machines.
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