The Malaysian police are destroying Bitcoin mining rigs as part of a broader crackdown on crypto miners who steal electricity for their operations.

A report from local media, Malaysia Gazette, disclosed that the police headquarters in the Perak District crushed 985 mining rigs worth RM1.98 million ($452,500) earlier this week. A video on the platform’s X account showed the machines being crushed with a steamroller with local officials present.

Malaysian Authorities Destroy Mining Rigs

The Perak Tengah District Police chief said the department had received an order from the court to destroy the mining equipment. Authorities confiscated the rigs during enforcement operations and raids against Bitcoin miners from 2022 to April.

“The Bitcoin mining items out of the 24 recorded cases involve the year 2022 as many as nine cases, 2023 (two cases) and 2024 (one case). This disposal is carried out according to the scheduled disposal method, which is ‘E-Waste and Solid Waste Under the First Schedule, Environmental Quality Regulations (Scheduled Waste) 2005 in force,” Superintendent Hafezul Helmi Hamzah said.

During these raids in Bitcoin mining facilities, the police also arrested individuals suspected of handling the operations that steal electricity from the Asian country.

Detecting Unusual Energy Consumption

One of the operations conducted last week saw the Sepang District Police apprehend seven individuals suspected of being involved in the mining operations around the Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi and Taman Putra Perdana regions. According to a report from CryptoPotato, the arrested individuals included three local men and four foreign nationals aged between 30 and 74.

The confiscated assets include 52 Bitcoin mining rigs, three laptops, seven mobile phones, and two vehicles estimated to be worth around RM250,000 ($57,000). Authorities have begun investigations into the mining operations, and some arrested suspects have been charged in court. It is worth mentioning that the arrested persons have no criminal records and are just suspected of engaging in illegal Bitcoin mining activities that involve electricity theft.

Malaysian authorities have long frowned on local Bitcoin miners stealing energy for their crypto operations. Malaysia lost as much as RM3.4 billion ($722 million) worth of energy to crypto miners between 2018 and 2023. The government’s energy minister said the miners were able to steal energy for so long due to the absence of meters on their premises; however, energy supply companies have deployed various methods to detect unusual consumption.