Malaysian police have managed to take down a massive illegal mining rig that involved over 441 Bitcoin mining gears.
The crypto industry’s mining process has garnered a lot of attention over the years due to the rewards that come with it. The value of BTC has witnessed drastic growth particularly over the last couple of months and has even managed to amass the attention of the globe. With this, mining rewards have also observed an increase further enticing more individuals into it. This, however, comes with a lot of setbacks. While many have expressed concerns over the environmental damages caused by the whole mining process, governments across the globe have been worried about electricity thefts.
Malaysian illegal mining crackdown
The entire Bitcoin mining process consumes a lot of electricity making it difficult for just anyone to execute it. In the Malaysian state of Penang, authorities busted a crypto mining rig. The Malaysian police managed to seize a total of 441 machines that were used for mining cryptocurrencies. While these machines were worth a whopping RM180,000.
The police had reportedly carried out a total of four raids and managed to nab four suspects associated with the case. The George Town OCPD Asst Comm Soffian Santong elaborated on the same and stated,
“During the raids at Lintang Hajjah Rehmah, Jelutong, Sungai Dua, and Bayan Lepas, police also confiscated four computers, 11 routers, four modems, and 10 fans.”
The aforementioned suspects have been booked under the Section 379 and Section 427 of the Penal Code along with the Section 37 of the Electricity Supply Act 1990.
Furthermore, the police found that all the premises that were raided were stealing electricity to conduct Bitcoin mining activities. The Tenaga Nasional Berhad [TNB] had even endured losses up to RM420,000.
While the person behind the entire plan is still on the run, the Malaysian police have been intensively searching for the person running this rig for the last couple of months.