Malaysian police raid 7 illegal Bitcoin mining pools

[ad_1]

Malaysian authorities have confiscated Bitcoin “buffalo plow” for using illegal energy from the local power company.

According to The Star, Malaysian police seized 441 Bitcoin miners, worth about $44,000, during a raid on seven facilities that stole electricity for cryptocurrency mining. In addition to the “buffalo plow”, 4 suspects were also arrested.

Soffian Santong, Deputy George Town Police, Penang state, said that the district authorities, the state crime investigation department and the electric power company Tenaga Nasional coordinated to carry out four raids on Bitcoin “mining camps”, taking place out from 23:30 on June 10 to 3:30 on June 11 (local time).

The raid took place after police questioned four suspects arrested from three previous raids in Jelutong. They claimed that they were just cleaning workers, only working for 2 months.

In addition to the Bitcoin “buffalo” array, the police also confiscated 4 computers, 11 network routers, 4 modems and 10 fans. Mr. Santong said the raids found evidence of unauthorized power consumption.

Tenaga Nasional estimates the loss from stealing electricity to mine coins over the past two months is more than $100,000. The mastermind is being sought by the police.

Earlier this year, CoinDesk reported that Malaysian police had arrested seven Bitcoin “miners” for stealing more than $2 million worth of electricity to mine cryptocurrencies.

The impact on energy when mining Bitcoin is a problem that causes many countries headaches. In China, the Yunnan Provincial Energy Administration has announced that it will penalize Bitcoin miners for illegally using electricity. Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang also issued similar bans. Meanwhile, Sichuan province is closely monitoring the operation of the mines.