Police and SESB technicians inside one of the premises with the mining machines actively powered by illegally connected electricity on Tuesday.
TAWAU: Police detained a 38-year-old local man for electricity theft used to power 20 bitcoin mining machines at a rented shophouse in Bandar Sri Indah on Tuesday.
District police chief ACP Peter AK Umbuas said a team of police together with Sabah Electricity Sdn Bhd (SESB) technicians and Tawau Municipal Council enforcement detained the suspect at about 2 pm and seized 20 mining machines and other appliances that were used at the premises.
He said checks on the power meter by SESB technicians found there was an illegal connection and power theft at the premises.
The suspect said he rented the premises for RM600 per month and admitted he stole electricity to power the mining machines since December last year, said Peter, adding that police also seized a monitor, a CPU, a keyboard, a modem and a mouse.
In another similar case on the same day and same location at about 1.30 pm, he said police seized forty mining machines at another premises about 50 meters away from the first premises after SESB technicians discovered power theft at the premises.
He said the team broke down the door and checked the premises and seized the mining machines that were active together with a monitor, CPU, keyboard, desktop ethernet switch, a modem and router and a mouse. No arrest was made.
He said SESB estimated the loss from the theft at about RM5,000 and RM7,000 respectively from the two premises.
Both cases will be investigated under Section 379 of the Penal Code, he said during a press conference today.
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