Cops have seized more than 360 Bitcoin mining machines that were allegedly being used to steal $382,000 worth of electricity in Thailand.

Police officers raided the warehouse where they discovered the devices being stored inside in Ban Thi district of Lamphun province on May 2.

The warehouse was hidden in a longan garden tended to by caretaker Boonrod, 70, who claimed he was unaware of the state-of-the-art cryptocurrency factory.

Boonrod told police he had been hired 10 years ago by the property owner, a Bangkok resident, to care for the garden for a monthly salary of around 5,000 Baht (146 USD).

However, six months ago, a stranger rented the garden and asked him to monitor the warehouse, increasing his salary to 8,000 Baht (235 USD).

The caretaker said: 'I don't know the name of the renter. I didn't know what was going on inside the warehouse since I never entered it. I only took care of the gardening, cutting grass and cleaning in the area outside.'

Sornchai Chaiwong, a Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) officer, said the warehouse was found to be using illegal electric connections.

The electric consumption of the warehouse was much higher than the meter recording, he said.

The confiscated devices are estimated to have been custom-built from motherboards and chips that were shipped from the U.S., where they had an estimated street value of close to half-a-million dollars. The stolen electricity was valued at around 13 million Baht in the local currency, or 382,000 USD.

Police are NOW investigating the identity of the warehouse renter.

Last month, cops raided another cryptocurrency mining factory in Samut Prakan province that was also stealing electricity.

Bitcoin mining can be profitable on a large scale but high energy consumption can make it unviable, so crooks turn to fiddling the electricty board.