Ten Bitcoin mining operations are said to have been shut down by Indonesian police, who charged the operators with stealing electricity worth close to $1 million.

In response to a multi-site Bitcoin mining operation spread across ten locations in Indonesia, the North Sumatra Police Force reportedly intervened and seized 1,134 Bitcoin mining machines in addition to 11 meters of electrical cable and computer equipment.

Irjen Agung Setya Imam Effendi, the Chief of Police in North Sumatra, claimed that the operators had tampered with electrical circuits in order to power the large number of Bitcoin mining machines.

“As we can see here, this is the PLN box. However, the electricity flow inside it is not the proper flow that should enter the box and be measured by the meter. Instead, what they took is the upper part, where electricity is taken directly from the pole and channeled inside.”

This comes after a Chinese government official who helped Bitcoin miners get electricity was given a life sentence.

According to reports, the Hangzhou Intermediate People's Court sentenced Yi Xiao, a former vice chairman of the Jiangxi Provincial Political Consultative Conference Party Group, to life in prison for abusing his position of authority in a Bitcoin mining company.

Under the company name Jiumu Group Genesis Technology, Xiao is accused of running a 2.4 billion Chinese yuan ($329 million) Bitcoin mining operation from 2017 to 2021.

Together with other business executives, Xiao gathered over 160,000 Bitcoin miners, and at one point, they used up 10% of Fuzhou's total electricity supply.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/indonesian-police-bitcoin-mining-operations

https://www.detik.com/sumut/hukum-dan-kriminal/d-7106895/polda-sumut-bongkar-10-titik-pencurian-listrik-tambang-bitcoin-26-orang-ditangkap