KUCHING, Oct 16 ­— A commercial shoplot unit in Muara Tabuan here has been raided by the police around 10am yesterday after it was found to be stealing electricity for crypto mining.

District police chief ACP Ahsmon Bajah in a statement today said during the raid, police arrested two male suspects aged 24 and 44 years old who worked as caretakers of the premises.

"It is estimated that the premises had mined about RM184,000 worth of cryptocurrencies in the last eight months,” said Ahsmon.

He also said police were also tracking down the owner of the premises, adding that the premises had been crypto mining since February this year.

The police seized one computer unit, 90 cryptocurrency mining rigs, an internet modem and other related devices during the raid.

The case was investigated under Section 379 of the Penal Code and Section 33(5) of the Sarawak Electrical Ordinance.

Sarawak Energy (SEB) and the Ministry of Utilities have uncovered the largest electricity theft case involving cryptocurrency mining in Sarawak at Demak Laut, here this week.

During the operation, a total of 1,200 cryptocurrency mining rigs worth RM1.74 million were seized from a factory that was turned into a mining outlet.

Onsite inspections by Sarawak Energy’s technical team has led to the discovery of direct tapping of cables and electricity theft.

It is estimated that Sarawak Energy has incurred losses of more than RM300,000 per month in unregistered electricity consumption over the course of the cryptocurrency’s operations. ­— Borneo Post Online