Malaysian Authorities Flatten Over a Thousand Mining PCs for Stealing Electricity

Malaysian authorities have used steamrollers to crush over a thousand mining PCs after a group of eight people set up an illegal mining farm, stealing electricity worth $2 million USD over a period of just three months. This was the result of a joint operation between Malaysian authorities and Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB), with a total of six raids carried out near an airport in the Sarawak region.

Destroying the PCs seems like a massive waste, in my opinion. The authorities could have easily auctioned or employed them for more productive uses, making up for part of the damage caused by the miners, if not most of it. Like many developing countries where electricity is cheap, Bitcoin mining is a major nuisance in Malaysia as well, causing frequent power outages in regions with the highest concentration of farms.

This has also resulted in electrical fires which in turn burned down three houses due to illegal power connections. A while back in March, a man was accused of stealing over $2.2 million worth of electricity. He, however, managed to escape and is on the run. The police are working to improve the detection of illegal mining operations in the country, and hopefully find better ways of dealing with confiscated equipment.

Source: TheStar (via: PCG)