Malaysian Police Seize 73 Mining Rigs in Electricity Theft Crackdown

Officers from the Criminal Investigation Department, supported by the Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) technical team, executed the search at approximately 9:02 p.m. The suspects, aged 40 and 52, are currently remanded for three days as authorities investigate breaches of the Penal Code and the Electricity Supply Act 1990. Technical inspections confirmed that all three targeted premises—two abandoned houses and one unoccupied residence—had bypassed legitimate meters to sustain the energy-intensive hardware.

This enforcement action reflects a wider trend of aggressive state intervention against illicit cryptocurrency operations. TNB reported that illegal mining caused losses exceeding 440 million ringgit in 2024 alone. With combined losses estimated at 755 million dollars between 2018 and 2023, local authorities are increasingly treating unauthorized mining as a critical threat to national grid stability, mirroring similar regulatory crackdowns currently unfolding across the globe.