Mexican federal prosecutors, the navy, and state security forces raided a hidden crypto mining compound in Puebla, seizing hundreds of graphics cards and power equipment. Investigators are examining whether the site helped hide proceeds from illicit activity or stole electricity from a nearby hydroelectric dam. It is the fourth such mining farm found in the area since early 2025.
Mexican authorities raided a covert crypto mining operation in a remote mountain community in Tlaola, Puebla, Reuters reported Saturday. Federal prosecutors, the Mexican navy, and state security officers seized the property, according to a Sept. 6 statement from Puebla's government.
What officers found at the site
Officers found about 300 GPUs, a transformer, roughly 80 medium-voltage terminals, and eight satellite internet antennas at the compound. Mexican officials said investigators were examining whether the crypto mined there was used to hide proceeds from illicit activity, and prosecutors are also checking whether the operation was siphoning power from a nearby hydroelectric dam.
The Puebla site was the fourth crypto farm discovered in the area since early 2025, with three similar mining sites found in the vicinity last year. Local authorities are now working with neighboring states to investigate other possible operations.
According to Reuters: "Drug cartels appear to have reached a new level of sophistication," security analyst David Saucedo said, citing the expertise and financing needed to run such a clandestine site. Mexico's federal attorney's office declined to comment on the ongoing investigation.
A recurring laundering pattern
Mining has featured in earlier investigations into how criminals disguise funds. The Block reported in 2019 that an Elliptic compliance report identified buying mining equipment with illicit proceeds as one way to obtain newly created, "clean" cryptocurrency. A separate Chainalysis study covered by The Block in 2023 examined suspected money laundering through mining pools, identifying exchange deposit addresses that received both funds tied to ransomware or scams and mining income.
Neither case establishes how the Puebla operation handled its funds, however. The local investigation will likely focus on two questions: whether operators used stolen electricity to generate revenue, and whether the mining helped disguise money from other crimes.
U.S. authorities have also targeted cartel crypto transfers outside any mining operation. In May, the Treasury Department sanctioned a network allegedly run by Armando de Jesus Ojeda Aviles that converted U.S. drug-sale proceeds to crypto for transfer to the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. Chainalysis estimated that flagged illicit addresses received at least $154 billion in 2025, though illicit activity remained below 1% of the total transaction volume the firm tracked.
Source: The Block
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