Shop Houses Raided After Being Turned Into Bitcoin Mining Hubs

A suspected Bitcoin mining syndicate that allegedly used vacant shop houses as operating centers has been uncovered in raids across Perak, Malaysian police said.

Police raided four premises on Monday, including three in Sungai Siput and one in Perak Tengah. In Sungai Siput, the sites were located at Sungai Siput Parade, Taman SS2 Perdana and Taman Alamanda. Investigators said they found evidence that electricity had been stolen to power the mining operations.

The raids yielded 132 Bitcoin mining machines, two laptops and four routers. A 39-year-old man who said he worked as a site guard was detained at the Taman Alamanda premises. Perak police chief Datuk Mohd. Alwi Zainal Abidin said preliminary questioning found that the man, who has eight previous criminal records, claimed not to know about the mining activity at the site.

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In Sungai Siput, the raids were conducted at Sungai Siput Parade, Taman SS2 Perdana and Taman Alamanda, where we detected electricity theft for Bitcoin mining activities.

Police later carried out a follow-up inspection at a premises in Seri Iskandar after receiving information about unauthorized electricity use and Bitcoin mining. They found 36 more mining machines, a router, a desktop switch and a roll of cut electrical cable. The premises had no electricity meter supplied by Tenaga Nasional Berhad and was believed to have used an illegal connection.

No arrest had been made in the Seri Iskandar case. Investigators are seeking to identify the owners of the machines, those involved and how the electricity was obtained and used. The cases are being investigated under Section 427 of the Penal Code and Section 37(1) of the Electricity Supply Act 1990.

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Preliminary questioning found that the suspect, who has eight previous criminal records, did not know about the Bitcoin mining activity carried out at the premises.