Suspect in Iceland’s ‘Big Bitcoin Heist’ escapes prison

A prisoner in Iceland suspected of masterminding the theft of about 600 computers that were being used to mine bitcoin and other virtual currencies escaped custody and fled Tuesday on a passenger plane that a witness said also carried the remote North Atlantic nation’s prime minister.

Police said surveillance video showed a suspect they identified as Sindri Thor Stefansson boarding a flight to Sweden at Iceland’s international airport in Keflavik. They said he traveled under a passport in someone else’s name.

“He had an accomplice,” Police Chief Gunnar Schram told Visir, an online news outlet. “We are sure of that.”

Investigators think Stefansson left the low-security prison where he recently had been transferred through a window early Tuesday. Guards did not report him missing until after the flight to Sweden had taken off.

Stefansson was among 11 people arrested this year for allegedly stealing the powerful computers in one of Iceland’s biggest thefts. The stolen equipment, which still is missing, has been valued at almost $2 million. Icelandic media have dubbed the case the “Big Bitcoin Heist.”

If the equipment is used for its original purpose — to create new bitcoins — the thieves could turn a massive profit in an untraceable currency without ever selling the items.

The escapee was being held at the Sogn prison in rural southern Iceland, about 59 miles from the airport. The prison is unfenced and inmates there have telephone and internet access.

Stefansson had been in custody since February. He was moved to the open prison 10 days ago, police said.

A passenger on the flight that the escaped inmate allegedly caught to Sweden told national broadcaster RUV that Iceland’s prime minister, Katrin Jakobsdottir, was also on the plane. Jakobsdottir was among five Nordic prime ministers who met with India’s prime minister Tuesday in Stockholm,

The prime minister’s presence, the witness said, was the only unusual thing about that flight.

The escape is yet another twist in a criminal case without parallel on the peaceful island nation with a population of 340,000 and one of the world’s lowest crime rates. Police commissioner Olafur Helgi Kjartansson said in March that it was “a grand theft on a scale unseen before.”

Police have arrested 22 people altogether, including a security guard, without solving the burglaries.

Blessed with an abundance of renewable energy, Iceland has emerged as a popular base for large virtual currency companies that use massive amounts of electricity running the computers that create bitcoins.

Owners of the stolen computers have, in a rare public outreach, promised a $60,000 reward to anyone who can lead detectives to the stolen computers.

Helgi Gunnlaugsson, a sociology professor at the University of Iceland, said keeping a high-profile prisoner in such low-security surroundings was unusual — but more so was his organized escape.

“Prison breaks in Iceland usually mean someone just fled to get drunk,” he said. “The underworlds are tiny, and it is extremely difficult to hide, let alone flee the country.”