SERDANG: Three men and a woman were arrested after a Bitcoin mining operation in Taman Puncak Jalil was busted by police for stealing electricity last month.
Serdang OCPD Asst Comm Razali Abu Samah said police, with Tenaga Nasional Bhd technicians, robbed three buildings along Jalan PUJ 3/8 in Taman Puncak Jalil on November 5 and arrested three men and a woman.
“Based on our investigations, the men were caretakers and technicians for Bitcoin mining operations.
“Upon further verification, we found that they had illegally connected the electricity by bypassing the meter to save on electricity consumption,” he told reporters at Serdang police headquarters on Wednesday (Dec. 9).
He said checks at all three buildings also revealed 240 processing units for their mining activities.
“Investigations revealed that estimated electricity consumption for one building was about RM30,000 but paid a bill of only RM500.
“We also found that industrial fans in the building were used to cool the equipment that was said to generate a lot of heat,” he said, adding that each processing unit is worth between RM200 and RM500.
He said based on their investigations, each processing unit was able to mine one Bitcoin every four months.
“Our checks revealed that the suspects had been operating for two months before being arrested.
“One of the suspects, in his 30s, has a previous record for stealing electricity, mischief and had previously been detained under the Crime Prevention Act,” he said, adding that the office of deputy public prosecutors Selangor has agreed to charge three suspects under Section 37 (1) of the Electricity Supply Act 1990 for tampering with electricity supply equipment.
According to www.investopedia.com, Bitcoin mining is performed by powerful computers that solve complex computational math problems. These problems are so complex that they cannot be solved manually and are complex enough to tax incredibly powerful computers.