Malaysian Police Seize 1,720 Bitcoin Mining Machines in Power Theft Crackdown

Over the last year, it seems pretty clear that the Malaysian government’s patience has run out in regard to illegal cryptocurrency mining operations. A great example of this was seen last July when a police video was posted online showing them publically crushing over 1,000 ASIC machines. – What’s their problem with cryptocurrency though? Well, by and large, as long as it’s done legally, nothing at all.

The problem though is that with Malaysia having so many exceptionally isolated locations, this has seen a boom in not only mining operations choosing to relocate there, but particularly those who decide to steal electricity to boost their profits (the theory being that the more isolated they are, the harder they will be to locate). – Following a report via Bitcoin, however, it seems that pressure on these organisations isn’t letting up as the latest sting operation in Malaysia has just seized nearly 2,000 mining machines!

Malaysia Continues its Illegal Bitcoin Mining Crackdown

Following a growing number of complaints from local residents, a huge police operation was carried out in the Manjung district. Inspecting around 75 different premises, it was found that 30 of them were conducting illegal bitcoin mining operations (as noted above, illegal due to power being stolen).

The operation has resulted in around 1,720 (presumably ASIC) mining machines being seized as well as a significant volume of other technological products. – The only problem is that, at least at the time of writing, they have still yet to determine exactly who the ‘owner/s’ of these sites was.

And just for the luls, here’s that aforementioned video of those bitcoin ASIC machines getting crushed last July.

A Janitor is in Custody

For such a huge sting operation, while clearly stopping these machines from stealing any more power is clearly something of a victory here, it is perhaps mildly embarrassing that, so far, only one person has been arrested in connection to the sites. Why is this potentially awkward, well, the man in question is described as a ’28-year-old caretaker’. A role that certainly isn’t the ‘mastermind’ they were clearly hoping to apprehend.

That being said though, we’ll freely concede that the person in question may currently be downplaying their significance in the hope that they’ll be allowed to escape any further action. This could be similar to debt collectors turning up at a business to find the owner claiming to simply be a visitor.

Still, with so much bitcoin-associated tech seized, I daresay that the police have plenty of things to look through in order to hopefully get some firmer arrests in the very near future!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!