Recently, the police in Manjung County, southwestern Perak, Malaysia, in collaboration with the international electricity company (TNB) and the fire and rescue station, carried out a large-scale operation to combat electricity theft, during which 1,720 mining machines were seized from attackers digital assets.
Active complaints from residents about very frequent power outages prompted the police to check private premises to find outlets for electricity theft.
So, in a fairly short period, the regulatory authorities checked 75 buildings, in 30 of which equipment for illegal mining of bitcoin was found.
It is worth noting that in addition to 1,720 machines for minting digital coins, a car, exhaust fans, CCTV cameras, and security alarm equipment were also confiscated.
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The police managed to detain the suspect born in 1993. The young man was the caretaker of one of the premises in which the search was carried out.
“The theft of electricity resulted in the loss of RM2 million ($ 479,730) to TNB,” said Perak Datuk Mior Faridalathrash Wahid, Chief of Police for Manjung County.
As of today, the police could not establish who is the instigator in this case, because it is not difficult to assume that this criminal group includes more than one person. It was not possible to find out the period during which the theft of electricity was carried out. To this day, law enforcement officers continue to investigate the details of the crime.