China has been making news lately following the ousting of an array of crypto mining firms from the country. Malaysia has taken a different step; this one, however, serves those who have been stealing electricity,
Crypto mining emerged as a prominent field as it came with attractive benefits. While some were genuinely interested in crypto, a few others wanted to pocket some easy money. The latter group has no setup but is quite often caught stealing electricity. Mining crypto is power-consuming. A lot of power is required to mine these assets; this further eliminates the chances of anyone and everyone mining crypto. Therefore, several go on to steal electricity for the sole purpose of mining these digital assets.
Malaysia has been taking different measures to address the situation. The region’s Miri district police have been destroying illegal Bitcoin mining equipment.
Malaysia destroys an array of mining equipment
According to a Malaysian news portal, The Star, a total of crypto mining machines worth $1.26 million were destroyed. These machines were reportedly a part of illegal mining farms that were stealing electricity from the Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB). The 1,069 Bitcoin mining machines were slain at the Miri district police headquarters.
This operation was led by the Miri police and the Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) joined in on the case. The investigation took place throughout February all the way till April. Furthermore, the Miri police arrested about eight people involved in the case.
Miri police chief ACP Hakemal Hawari spoke about the case and stated,
“A total of six people have been successfully charged under Section 379 of the Penal Code for electricity theft and have been fined up to RM8,000 and jailed for up to eight months. The electricity theft for mining bitcoin activities has caused frequent power outages and in 2021, three houses were razed due to illegal electricity supply connections.”