Bitcoin bandit makes prison break, flees Iceland on PM’s plane

The suspected mastermind of Iceland’s ‘big bitcoin heist’ reportedly escaped from prison and fled the country – on a plane that was also carrying the prime minister.

Sindri Thor Stefansson and 10 other people were arrested in February in connection with the theft of 600 computers used to mine bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The computers, worth some $2 million, are still missing.

Stefansson was being held in a low-security Sogni prison in the rural south of the island nation. According to local media reports, the suspected bitcoin bandit escaped the prison through a window and somehow made the 95km journey to Iceland's international airport in Keflavik. Police said that CCTV footage from the airport shows Stefansson boarding a flight to Sweden that was coincidentally also carrying the country’s prime minister, Katrin Jakobsdottir.

Jakobsdottir was on her way to Sweden to meet with Indian PM Narendra Modi and four Nordic prime ministers. Stefansson reportedly boarded the plane using a false passport. “He had an accomplice,” police chief Gunnar Schram told Visir. “We are sure of that.”

Swedish police have confirmed that their Icelandic counterparts warned them that Stefansson had entered their jurisdiction, however, according to the Associated Press, no arrests have been made there.

Iceland has become something of a haven for bitcoin mining due to its abundance of renewable energy which is perfect for supplying the massive amounts of electricity needed to mine cryptocurrencies.

An international arrest warrant has been issued for the Stefansson.

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