Thai police have shut down a Bitcoin mining operation estimated to have stolen roughly $3 million worth of electricity.

Officials estimate the operation, located in the Phanat Nikhom district of Chonburi in eastern Thailand, involved upwards of 1,000 machines.

According to English-language Thai news outlet The Nation, though authorities weren’t able to provide an exact figure for the theft, it was likely worth “hundreds of millions of baht.” One hundred million baht is worth approximately $2.9 million as of the time of writing.

The miners reportedly tampered with the power meter of the local Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) to divert power for their machines. The Nation reported that an unidentified staff member at the site told police the electricity theft occurred only at night, with the power meter used correctly during the day to avoid detection.

Thailand’s Crime Suppression Division (CSD), alongside the PEA, has seized 996 Bitcoin mining machines and other devices from the site. The CSD stated it has not yet identified the company or individuals responsible for the operation, but will seek court warrants for their arrest.

The news follows numerous other cases of Bitcoin miners engaging in large-scale electricity theft in the country. In May, Thai police raided another illegal Bitcoin mining operation in the city of Samut Sakhon, seizing nearly 69 million baht worth of equipment.

In October, Bitcoin miners in the Tha Muang district of Bangkok were shut down after tampering with electricity meters to show false readings and stealing millions of baht worth of electricity. In November, nine illegal Bitcoin mining farms in southern Thailand were dismantled for stealing over €270,000 ($278,000) worth of electricity.

Despite numerous cases of serious electricity theft, Thailand remains a relatively small player in the global bitcoin mining industry. Cambridge University’s Judge Business School estimated in 2022 that Thailand accounted for just 0.97% of the world’s Bitcoin production. It lags far behind major players like Kazakhstan, Russia, and the United States.

This kind of electricity theft is also widespread in other parts of Southeast Asia. A Malaysian government official estimates his country lost as much as $754 million (RM3.4 billion) to Bitcoin miners draining electricity supplies from 2018 to 2023.

Instances of this type of theft occur in the West as well.

In 2021, a British man was jailed after stealing £32,000 ($44,000) worth of electricity to mine Bitcoin at two sites in Leicestershire.

Edited by Stacy Elliott.

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