300 GPUs seized as Mexico busts crypto mining cartels in Latin America

Deep in the mountains of central Mexico, the sound of humming machines gave away a secret. Police tracing an unusually large electricity draw near the small town of Tlaola, in Puebla state’s Sierra Norte region, found a clandestine computer farm running hundreds of specialized processors around the clock. What they uncovered wasn’t just an illegal power hookup — it was another sign of what crypto mining cartels Latin America-wide are increasingly leaning on to move dirty money, according to Reuters.

Key takeaways

• Mexican authorities dismantled a suspected illicit crypto mining site in the mountainous Tlaola area of Puebla state, in the Sierra Norte region.
• The raid netted 300 GPUs, 80 medium-voltage terminals and eight satellite antennas.
• Investigators are examining whether the operation stole power from a nearby hydroelectric dam.
• It’s the fourth such crypto farm found in the area since early last year, with three earlier sites discovered near the same dam in northern Puebla.
• Chainalysis says illicit crypto transactions worldwide more than doubled in 2025, reaching an estimated $154 billion, up from $59 billion the year before.

Discovery of Illicit Crypto Mining in Puebla, Mexico

Authorities zeroed in on the site after residents and officials noticed power consumption far beyond what the sparsely populated communities around Tlaola could account for. The building sat next to a gravel road rarely traveled by outsiders, and neighbors told Reuters they could hear the machinery’s mechanical whir from roughly a kilometer away — about half the distance to the nearest village.