Spanish police said on Wednesday they had arrested 30 people suspected of illegally distributing pay television content and of laundering the proceeds by investing in bitcoin "mining" centers for processing transactions in the digital currency, which use intensive computing power to generate more bitcoins.

The arrests took place across Spain, including in the cities of Madrid, Barcelona, Valencia and Cordoba, police said in a statement.

Six bitcoin "mining" centers were seized in the raid, they added, after an investigation alongside Spain's tax office that started as a crackdown on a scheme to illegally decode and distribute pay-TV content.

The proceeds were allegedly laundered through investments in banking products, luxury cars, property as well as Bitcoin centers.